HD 5325 
.M63 
1920 
065 
Copy 1 



ARD AND RECOMMENDATIONS 



OF THE 

UNITED STATES 
BITUMINOUS GOAL COMMISSION 

ACCEPTED BY THE PRESIDENT 

FROM 

HENRY M. ROBINSON, Chainnan 
REMBRANDT PEALE, Commissionw 

1920 





WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1920 




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AWARD AND RECOMMENDATIONS 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES 
BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION 

ACCEPTED BY THE PRESIDENT 

FROM 

HENRY M. ROBINSON, Chairman 
REMBRANDT PEALE, Commissioner 

1920 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1920 



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CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Letter of the President to official representatives of miners and operators 
transmitting award and recommendations v, vi, vn, vm, ix 

Executive order of March 19, 1920, suspending Government price fixing 

provided for in order of October 30, 1919 x 

Executive order of March 24, 1920, dissolving commission and disposing 
of files, records, and property xi 

Letter of the Secretary to the President to Hon. Henry M. Robinson, 
chairman of the commission, directing him to request United States 
Council of National Defense to put into effect certain recommendations 
found in award xn 

Letter of the Secretary to the President to Hon. E. E. Clark, chairman of 
the Interstate Commerce Commission, asking the commission's coopera- 
tion in solution of problems referred to it by the coal commission xiii 

Letter of the Secretary to the President to heads of Federal departments 

and agencies concerning purchase, transport, and storage of coal xiv 

Award and recommendations of the United States Bituminous Coal Com- 
mission 3 

Minority report of the United States Bituminous Coal Commission 61 

m 



i 



LETTER OF THE PRESIDENT TO REPRESENTATIVES OF MINERS 

AND OPERATORS. 

The White House, 
Washington, D. C, March 19, 1920. 

Gentlemen : I am transmitting to you herewith a copy of the re- 
port and award of the United States Bituminous Coal Commission 
appointed to adjust matters in controversy between the bituminous 
coal miners and operators of the country. 

In accordance with instructions in my letter of appointment to the 
commission and memoranda attached thereto and the agreements by 
mine workers and operators to abide by the report and award of the 
commission, this report and award is the basis upon which the wage 
schedule agreements between the mine workers and operators shall 
be made. 

Operators and miners should, therefore, make arrangements for 
convening the necessary joint conferences as soon as possible to make 
such changes in the terms, provisions, and conditions, mining rates 
and wage schedules as are set forth in this report and award. 

It is essential to the public welfare that the agreements be con- 
cluded at the earliest date practicable so that the uncertainty as to 
fuel supply may be ended and that consumers may be able to make 
contracts for their coal supply, and also that the recommendations 
contained in the report as to the storage of coal by consumers may be 
of service this year. 

I also inclose as information copy of minority report by one mem- 
ber of the commission. This minority report concurs with the report 
of the commission as to the wage for miners, though dissenting as to 
the wage for day workers, and in part concurs and in part dissents 
on other points. I regret that the members of the commission were 
not unanimous on all points as I had expressed the hope they would 
be, but the report of the majority is none the less the report of the 
commission and binding as such. 

I take it that neither party will raise any question, and I am sure 
that no question can properly be raised, as to the binding character 
of the award, notwithstanding the fact that it is not unanimous. On 
December 10, 1919, the miners, without qualification, agreed to sub- 
mit all questions to a decision of a commission of three persons to be 
appointed by me, the report of such commission to be made the basis 
of a new wage agreement. This definite and unqualified acceptance 

v 



VI REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

did not in any way limit the power which any such commission is al- 
ways understood to have, in the absence of agreement to the contrary, 
that it may reach a decision by majority vote. The acceptance of 
the operators was equally unqualified on this point. This condition 
was in no wise changed by my subsequent action on December 19. in 
expressing a belief as to the desirability of importance of unanimous 
action. 

My appointment of the commission indicated that the power to fix 
the price of coal would not be conferred upon the commission except 
for its unanimous action, and therefore it is clear that such power to 
fix coal prices should not be conferred on the Commission. 

I have carefully considered the question whether the war power of 
the Lever Act should be temporarily invoked by me, despite the 
absence of any action of the commission so recommending, to con- 
tinue temporarily the control of prices, and have concluded that it 
is not expedient for me to exercise any such price-fixing control, so 
that, on and after April 1, 1920, no Government maximum prices will 
be enforced. 

There is at present no provision of law for fixing new coal prices 
for peace-time purposes, and unless and until some grave emergency 
shall arise, which in my judgment has a relation to the emergency 
purposes of the Lever Act, I would not feel justified in fixing coal 
prices with reference to future conditions of production. 

I am aware that at present, as a result of the shortage created by the 
coal strike and of the consequent interference with transportation 
and as a result also of the exceptionally unfavorable winter, the 
demand for coal continues active. I desire to impress upon the coal 
operators the extreme importance not only of their complying to the 
fullest extent with the laws against combinations in restraint of trade 
and against profiteering, but also of their exerting themselves affirma- 
tively to prevent exacting of unreasonable prices for coal. I am sure 
the public fully appreciates the desirability, where practicable, of 
leaving commercial transactions untrammeled ; but at the same time 
I am satisfied the public will find ways to protect itself if such liberal 
policy shall appear to result in unreasonably high prices. 
Sincerely, yours, 

(Signed) Woodrow Wilson. 

G. B. McCokmick, Esq., 

President, Alabama Coal Operators Association, 

1303-1305 American Trust & Savings Bank Building, 

Birmingham, Ala. 
John Kennamek, Esq., 

President, District No, 20, 

918-914 Farley Building, 

Birmingham, Ala. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. VET 

Thomas F. Brewster, Esq., 

Central Competitive Field, 

Mount Olive <€ Staunton Coal Co., 
St. Louis, Mo. 
W. L. A. Johnson, Esq., 

Commissioner, Southwest Interstate Joint Conference, 
Keith & Perry Building, 
Kansas City, Mo. 
J. L. Lewis, Esq., 

President, United Mine Workers of America, 
Merchants Bank Building, 
Indianapolis, Ind. 
Alex. Ho watt, Esq., 

Southwest Interstate Joint Conference, 
President, District No. IJf, 
Pitts our g, Kans. 
David Frampton, Esq., 

Southwest Interstate Joint Conference, 
President, District No. 25, 
Noringer, Mo. 
John Wilkinson, Esq., 

Southwest Interstate Joint Conference, 
President, District No. 21, 
McAlester, Okla. 

B. M. Clark, Esq., 

Central Pennsylvania Joint Conference, 
President, Operators Association, 
Punocsutawney, Pa. 
John Brophy, Esq., 

Central Pennsylvania Joint Conference, 
President, District No. 2, 
Clearfield, Pa. 

D. C. Kennedy, Esq., 

Commissioner, West Virginia Kanawha Joint Conference, 
Charleston, W. Ya. 

C. F. Keeney, Esq., 

Commissioner, West Virginia Kanawha Joint Conference, 
President, District No. 17, 
Charleston, W. Va. 
T. L. Lewis, Esq., 

Commissioner, New River Joint Conference, 
Charleston, W. Va. 
Robert Gilmour, Esq., 

Neiv River Joint Conference, 
Secretary, District No. 29, 
Beckley, W. Va. 

E. S. McCullough, Esq., 

Commissioner, Fairmont Joint Conference, 
Fairmont, W. Va. 
0. F. Keeney, Esq., 

Fairmont Joint Conference, 
District No. 17, 

Charleston, W. Va, 



VIII REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

John S. Brophy, Esq., 

Maryland Joint Conference, 

President, Operators Association, 
Cumberland, Md. 
Francis S. Drum, Esq., 

Maryland Joint Conference, 
President, District No. 16, 
Cumberland, Md. 
W. G. Duncan, jr., Esq., 

Western Kentucky Joint Conference, 
Western Kentucky Coal Association, 
W. G. Duncan Coal Co., 
Greenville, Ky. 
W. D. Duncan, Esq., 

Western Kentucky Joint Conference, 
President, District No. 23, 
Central City, Ky. 
P. D. Berry, Esq., 

Western Kentucky Joint Conference, 

Vice President. Operators Association, 
Providence Mining Co., 
Providence. Ky. 
J. P. McCoy. Esq., 

Southeastern Kentucky and Eastern Tennessee Joint Conference, 
Knoxville, Tenn. 
S. A. Keller, Esq., 

Southeastern Kentucky and Eastern Tennessee Joint Conference, 
President, District No. 19, 
Box 456, Jellico, Tenn. 
George F. Bartlett, Esq., 

Colorado Joint Conference. 

Chairman, Executive Committee, 
Victor- American Fuel Co., 
Denver, Colo. 
O. F. Nigro, Esq.. 

Colorado Joint Conference, 
President, District No. 15, 
444 Thatcher Building, 
Pueblo, Colo. 
Herbert Addison, Esq., 

Montana and Wyoming Joint Conference, 
Vice President, Big Horn Coal Co., 
412 Colorado Building, 
Denver, Colo. 
James B. Morgan, Esq., 

Montana and Wyoming Joint Conference, 
Secretary, District No. 22. 
Box 904, Cheyenne, Wyo. 
J. F. Brophy, Esq., 

Montana Joint Conference, 

Smokeless and Sootless Coal Co* 
Red Lodge, Mont. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL. COMMISSION. IX 

Henry Drennan, Esq., 

Montana Joint Conference, 
President, District No. 27, 
Box 1257, Billings, Mont, 
P. J. Quealy, Esq., 

Southern Wyoming, 

Kemmerer Coal Co., 
Kemmerer, Wyo. 
E. F. Brooks, Esq., 

Commissioner, Washington Joint Conference, ' 
Washington Coal Operators Association, 
698 Lyon Building, 
Seattle, Wash. 
Robert H. Harlin, Esq., 

Washington Joint Conference, 
President, District No. 10, 

405-407 Mutual Life Building, 
Seattle, Wash. 
D. J. Cushing, Esq., 

Iowa Joint Conference, 

President, Iowa Coal Operators, 
Des Moines, Iowa. 
J. H. Lewis, Esq., 

Iowa Joint Conference, 

President, District No. 13, 
Albia, Iowa. 
William Diamond, Esq., 

Michigan Joint Conference, 

Secretary, Michigan Coal Operators Association 
Saginaw, Mich. 
William Stevenson, Esq., 

Michigan Joint Conference, 
President, District No. 24, 
806 Twenty-ninth Street, 
Bay City, Mich, 



EXECUTIVE ORDER OF MARCH 19, 1920 



Pursuant to the authority vested in me by the act of Congress of 
August 10, 1917, entitled "An act to provide further for the national 
security and defense by encouraging the production, conserving the 
supply, and controlling the distribution of food products and fuel," 
and other powers thereunto me authorizing, I, Woodrow Wilson, 
President of the United States of America, do hereby order and 
direct that from and after 12.01 o'clock a. m., on the 1st day of April, 
1920, the order issued by me on the 30th day of October, 1919, restor- 
ing certain rules, regulations, orders, and proclamations therein 
referred to, relative to the price of bituminous coal and other matters 
and things therein described, shall be suspended until further 
ordered, and that all other Executive orders subsequent thereto 
issued by me, except the Executive order of February 25, 1920, rela- 
tive to the Tidewater Coal Exchange, and all orders subsequent 
thereto issued by the United States Fuel Administrator, or any 
person acting pursuant to authority conferred upon him either by 
me or the United States Fuel Administrator, shall be suspended until 
otherwise ordered, ori and after 12.01 o'clock a. m., April 1, 1920, 
it being the intent and purpose of this order to restore at 12.01 
o'clock a. m., on April 1, 1920, the rules and regulations of the 
United States Fuel Administration to the status existing immedi- 
ately prior to the aforesaid Executive order of October 30, 1919, but 
not in any wise to affect the validity of any act or thing done under 
any of said orders or regulations prior to 12.01 o'clock a. m., April 1, 
1920, or the Executive order of February 25, 1920, relative to the 

Tidewater Coal Exchange. 

(Signed) Woodrow Wilson. 

The White House, 

March 19, 1920. 



EXECUTIVE ORDER OF MARCH 24, 1920. 

I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, under author- 
ity conferred upon ihe by "An act authorizing the President to co- 
ordinate or consolidate executive bureaus, agencies, and offices and 
for other purposes in the interest of economy and the more efficient 
concentration of the Government," approved May 20, 1918, and by 
virtue of all other powers thereto me enabling do hereby order and 
direct : 

1. That upon the signing of the agreements between the miners 
and operators, specified in the award of the United States Bitu- 
minous Coal Commission, the members of that commission be relieved 
of their duties. 

2. Effective immediately, all files, records, and property of the 
United States Bituminous Coal Commission shall be transferred to 
the custody of the United States Council of National Defense, whose 
disbursing officer has acted as disbursing officer of this commission; 
and any and all obligations incurred by the said commission shall be 
liquidated by the said council from the funds appropriated by the 
Congress for the expenses of said commission upon voucher ap- 
proved by the Director of the Council of National Defense and that 
to defray such expenses the unexpended balance of the appropriation 
for said commission shall be transferred to the said Council of Na- 
tional Defense. 

3. The files and records of the United States Bituminous Coal 
Commission shall be transferred, effective June 30, 1920, to the 
United States Department of the Interior and consolidated with the 
files of the United States Fuel Administration, which were trans- 
ferred to the Department of the Interior under the Executive order 
signed by me, dated July 22, 1919. 

(Signed) Woodrow Wilson. 

The White House, 

March U, 1920. 

XI 



LETTER TO THE CHAIBMAN OF THE UNITED STATES BITUMINOUS 

COAL COMMISSION. 

The White House, 

Washington, D. C. y March 23, 1920. 
My Dear Mr. Robinson: 

In accordance with the recommendations of the United States 
Bituminous Coal Commission, the President asks me to have you re- 
quest the United States Council of National Defense to assume the 
specific duties outlined for it in your recommendation, and he also 
asks that you have printed and transmit to the governors of the vari- 
ous States, to the county and municipal authorities, to the various 
State railway and public utilities commissions, to the carriers, to the 
Federal Reserve Board, to the public utility and other corporations, 
as well as to the general public, copies of your report, award, and rec- 
ommendation, to the end that a concentrated effort may be made by 
all concerned for the stabilization of production and distribution of 
coal within the United States. 

I have transmitted to the Interstate Commerce Commission copies 
of the award and of the President's letter putting the award into ef- 
fect, this for such action as the Interstate Commerce Commission may 
deem advisable in the premises. 

As to the suggestion of the commission that all Federal depart- 
ments and other Federal agencies be instructed to purchase, trans- 
port, and store at the point of consumption, where such action may 
be practicable, an estimated three months' winter supply of bitumi- 
nous coal before July 1 of each year, this question is being considered 
and will be dealt with later in an appropriate manner. 
Sincerely, yours, 

(Signed) Joseph P. Tumulty, 

Secretary to the President. 
Hon. Henry M. Robinson, 

Chairman, U. jS. Bituminous Coal Commission, 

Twentieth and Virginia A venue NW., 

Washington, D. C* 

XII 



LETTER TO THE CHAIRMAN OF THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE 

COMMISSION. 

The White House, 

Washington, D. G ., March 23, 1920. 
My Dear Mr. Clark: 

By direction of the President, I transmit herewith copy of the 
report, award, and recommendations of the United States Bituminous 
Coal Commission for your information and for such action as you 
may deem advisable in the premises. 

You will note that in the recommendations appearing in this report 
there are various specific problems pointed out which the commission 
believes should come officially before the Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission. It is for this reason that I call your specific attention to the 
document attached. 

Sincerely, yours, 

(Signed) J. P. Tumulty, 

Secretary to the President. 
Hon, E. E. Clark, 

Chairmian^ Interstate Commerce Co?iymission, 

Washington, D. 0. 

XIII 



LETTER TO HEADS OF FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES. 

The White House, 

Washington, D. G ., March 24, 1920. 
My Dear Mr. Secretary: 

The President directs me to send you a copy- of the report of the 
United States Bituminous Coal Commission and to direct your at- 
tention to Recommendation No. 1 on page 57 of the report. 

In lieu of issuing an Executive order, the President suggests that 
all Federal departments and agencies purchase, transport, and store 
at the point of consumption before July 1 of each year, or, if that 
is not practicable, as scon thereafter as may be feasible, an estimated 
three months' winter supply of bituminous coal. 
Very sincerely, yours, 

(Signed) J. P. Tumulty, 

Secretary to the President. 
Hon. Bainbridge Colby, 

Secretary of State. 

(Similar letter sent to other members of the Cabinet and to 
chairman of the United States Shipping Board.) 

XIV 



AWARD AND RECOMMENDATIONS 

OF THE 

United States Bituminous Coal Commission 



United States Bituminous Coal Commission, 

Washington, March 10, 1920. 
The President, 

The White House. 

My Dear Mr. President: In transmitting the majority report of 
the Bituminous Coal Commission, may we call your attention to 
certain salient points: 

The increase in wages to the miners amounts approximately to 27 
per cent; that is, the 14 per cent average increase granted by the 
Fuel Administrator when the strike was threatened has been elimi- 
nated and a 27 per cent average increase substituted. 

Figured in dollars the increase is approximately $96,000,000 in 
excess of the advance allowed by Dr. Garfield. This means a total 
increase in wage cost of $200,000,000 as compared with the cost on 
October 31, 1919. 

Every effort was made to ascertain the actual increase in the cost of 
living to the miners. Many different figures and opinions were pre- 
sented. Our award, as the result of careful scrutiny of all the evi- 
dence submitted by the parties in interest and otherwise obtained, 
grants the miners an advance in wages larger than the percentage of 
increase in the cost of living submitted by their representatives. 

Tonnage workers will have received, under this award, an average 
increase in wages since 1913 of 88 per cent, and clay men, part of 
whose previous advance was based on existing inequalities in com- 
pensation rather than on increased living costs, will have received an 
average advance of 111 per cent. 

The other main point of the United Mine Workers' contention— 
a reduction in the working hours from eight to six hours a day, and 
five days a week — is not granted, for the reasons we state in the 
report. We are convinced that a curtailment of productive energy 
would react not only against the whole population but against the 
miners themselves. 

It is essential that the miners shall have living wages. It it like- 
wise essential in the public interest that there shall be no let down 
in production. 

We express the opinion that had we shortened the day by one hour, 
it would be equivalent to an additional cost of over $100,000,000. 

We have sought and believe that we have found some of the prin- 
cipal reasons for the weakness in this uncertain and troubled indus- 
try, and we offer a method for remedying the most important of these 
conditions. 

The time has come for the people of the country, of which labor 
constitutes a large part, to look beyond temporary wage settlements 
and consider the general welfare, first, of the general public itself, 
then, of the employees and employers. 

171797°— 20 2 5 



6 BEPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

A wage settlement for the moment is not a correct or adequate 
answer to the problem. The coal industry has been on an unsound 
basis for years, because of its seasonal character and the resulting car 
shortages and car-service intermittencies. The heavy movement of 
bituminous coal comes in the fall and winter. Inevitably, with the 
buying and movement limited to one season, there is a great car 
shortage which limits production. When the market drops in the 
spring and summer there are idle men, idle mines, and idle car . 
From the standpoint of employers and employees, the industry has 
yielded a hazardous return. 

The solution of the problem is to bring about evenness of produc- 
tion and distribution. This can be clone by the cooperation of the 
railroads, public utilities, and steel companies as consumers on the 
one side and of the operators, the Interstate Commerce Commission. 
the banks, and the Federal Reserve System on the other side. 

We believe that the Federal reserve banks will view favorably the 
eligibility of commercial paper based upon coal purchased and stored 
by the railroads and public utilities in the dull seasons. Some of the 
leading railroads have given assurances of their cooperation. Others 
approached have not. 

If virtually complete cooperation is assured, it will result in time 
in a substantially even production, continuous employment, and even 
distribution throughout the year. The small consumer will then 
not have to compete with the large consumer in the winter, and will 
not be at the mercy of the practice of commandeering on the grounds 
of priority. Until this is done, wage costs must of necessity be high, 
but when this is accomplished prices should be more reasonable, em- 
ployment more continuous, and the industry better stabilized. The 
present inexcusable and extravagant waste would then be eliminated. 

The mine workers themselves, we feel sure, recognize that no other 
remedy will be adequate. A shortening of the working day would 
seriously affect production, add additional workers to the industry. 
and increase the present unsettled condition. This decreased produc- 
tion would in turn add still further to the cost of living, hitting the 
workmen in other industries, and continue the folly of such pyramid- 
ing. 

In transmitting this report to you, we wish to say that both the 
mine workers and the operators have given every assistance possible 
in the work of the commission, and we wish to add that Mr. White 
has worked diligently and long on the problems which confronted 
the commission. It is our sincere regret that Mr. White did not see 
fit to join us and make the findings and awards of the commission 
unanimous. 

Very respectfully, yours, 

Henry M. Robinson, Chairman, 
Rembrandt Peale, Commissioner. 



MAJORITY REPORT OF THE UNITED STATES BITUMINOUS 
COAL COMMISSION. 



The Peesident, 

The White House. 
The undersigned, the majority of the commission appointed by 
you December 19, 1919, to investigate and consider questions of 
wages and working conditions that have arisen between the coal 
miners and operators, herewith submit the report asked for in your 
letter of appointment. 

ORGANIZATION. 

Your commissioners, Henry M. Robinson, John P. White, and 
Rembrandt Peale, met on Monday, December 29, in Washington; 
elected Henry M. Robinson chairman, and created the following 
executive staff: 

Executive secretary: Herbert N. Shenton. 

Technical advisers : Samuel A. Taylor, E. A. Goldenweiser, Percy 
Tetlow, Charles O'Neill, Ethelbert Stewart. 

Assistant to the chairman : D. M. Reynolds. 

Disbursing officer : E. K. Ellsworth. 

Counsel: Alexander C. King. 

Assistant secretary : R. R. Reeder, jr. 

Recorder : Mrs. Mary Burk East. 

Director of information: K. C. Adams. 

The commission gave due and official notice of its intention to 
begin its hearings, and the first hearing was set for and held on 
January 12, 1920, in the assembly room of the American Red Cross 
Building, Washington, D. C. 

THE AUTHORITY OF THE COMMISSION. 

Your letter appointing the undersigned as members of the com- 
mission, together with the statement of December 6, and the memo- 
randum referred to in the letter, which constitute the authority 
under which the commission operated, are as follows : 

The White House. 
Wasliington, December 19, 191$. 
My Dear Mr. Robinson : On October 6, 1917, with the official approval and 
sanction of the United States Fuel Administration, an agreement (since 
known as the "Washington wage agreement") was entered into between 
the operators and the union miners and mine workers of the so-called 
Central Competitive Bituminous Coal Fields, composed of western Penn- 
sylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, which provided for an increase in 

7 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

the production of bituminous coal and an increase in wages to the miners 
and mine workers from the then existing scale of compensation. The 
agreement contained the following clause: 

" Subject to the next biennial convention of the United Mine Workers 
of America, the mine workers' representatives agree that the present con- 
tract be extended during the continuation of the war and not to exceed 
two years from April 1, 1918.'' 

Subsequently, on January 19, 1918, this agreement was approved by 
the convention of the International Union, United Mine Workers of 
America. 

At the fourth biennial convention of the International Union. United 
Mine Workers of America, held in Cleveland, Ohio, from September 9 to 
September 23. 1919, the so-called scale committee submitted a report recom- 
mending, among other things, that the convention demand a 60 per cent 
increase applicable to all classifications of day labor and to all tonnage, 
yardage, and -dead-work rates throughout the Central Competitive Field; 
that all new wage agreements replacing existing agreements should be 
based on a six-hour work day from bank to bank, five days per week ; 
the abolition of all automatic penalty clauses ; that all contracts in the 
bituminous field should be declared to expire on November 1, 1939; and 
that in the event a satisfactory wage agreement is not secured for the 
Central Competitive Field before November 1, 1919, to replace the one now 
in effect, the international officers be authorized to and are hereby in- 
structed to call a general strike of all bituminous miners and mine workers 
throughout the United States, the same to become effective November 1, 
1919. 

Subsequently conferences were held between representatives of the oper- 
ators and of the miners, at which the miners' demands were submitted 
and declined on the part of the operators. The officers of the International 
Union, United Mine Workers of America then issued so-called strike orders 
to all of their local unions and members, requiring them to cease work in 
the mining of bituminous coal at midnight on Friday. October 31. 

On October 15, 1919, the Secretary of Labor called a conference between 
the operators and miners of the bituminous mines in the central competitive 
field, which conference also resulted in failure to reach an agreement.- In 
a letter to Secretary Wilson, which was submitted to the conference, I said : 

"If for any reason the miners and operators fail to come to mutual 
understanding, the interests of the public are of such vital importance in 
connection with the production of coal that it is incumbent upon them to 
refer the matters in dispute to a board of arbitration for determination 
and to continue the operation of the mines pending the decision of the 
board." 

Subsequently, on October 25, 1919. I issued a statement in which I said 
that a strike in the circumstances therein described " is not only unjusti- 
fiable, it is unlawful," and added : 

" I express no opinion on the merits of the controversy. I have already 
suggested a plan by which a settlement may be reached, and I hold myself 
in readiness, at the request of either or both sides, to appoint at once a 
tribunal to investigate all the facts with a view to aiding in the earliest 
possible orderly settlement of the questions at issue between the coal oper- 
ators and the coal miners, to the end that the just rights not only of those 
interests but also of the general public may be fully protected." 

Despite my earnest appeals that the men remain at work, the officers of 
the United Mine Workers of America rejected all the proposals for a peace- 
ful and orderly adjustment and declared that the strike would go on. Ac- 
cordingly, at my direction, the Attorney General filed a bill in equity in the 
United" States district court at Indianapolis praying for an injunction to 
restrain the officers of the United Mine Workers of America from doing any 
act in furtherance of the strike. A restraining order was issued by the 
court, followed by a writ of temporary injunction on November S, 1919, in 
which the defendants were commanded to cancel and revoke the strike 
orders theretofore issued. These strike orders were accordingly revoked in 
a form approved by the court, but the men did not return to work in suffi- 
ciently large number to bring about a production of coal anywhere ap- 
proaching normal. 

On December 6, 1919, I issued a statement in which I restated the Gov- 
ernment's position, appealed to the miners to return to work, and renewed 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 9 

my suggestion that upon the general resumption of mining operations a 
suitable tribunal would be erected for the" purpose of investigating ami 
adjusting the matters in controversy between the operators and the miners. 
This statement was submitted to a meeting of the officers of the Interna- 
tional Union, United Mine Workers of America, having authority to take 
action, which meeting adopted as its act a memorandum prepared by the 
Attorney General and approved by me, embodying the suggestions con- 
tained in my statement of December 6. I am informed also that the 
operators have generally agreed to the plan therein outlined. I inclosed 
for your information copy of my statement of December 6, 1919, and the 
memorandum just referred to. 

There has now been a general resumption of operation in all parts of the 
bituminous coal fields sufficient to warrant the appointment of a commission 
such as is referred to in the memorandum of the Attorney General, and I 
have accordingly appointed you, Mr. Rembrandt Peale, a mine owner and 
operator in active business; and Mr. John P. White, a practical miner, as 
a commission with the powers and duties as set forth in the memorandum 
agreed to and adopted by the miners and operators, who conducted all the 
prior negotiations. If a readjustment of the prices of coal shall be found 
necessary, I shall be pleased to transfer to the commission, subject to its 
unanimous action, the powers heretofore vested in the Fuel Administrator 
for that purpose. 

I am sure it is not necessary for me to call your attention to the tre- 
mendous importance of the work of this commission or the great oppor- 
tunity which it presents for lasting service to the coal industry and to the 
country. If the facts covering all the phases of the coal industry necessary 
to a proper adjustment of the matters submitted to you shall be investi- 
gated and reported to the public, I am sure that your report, in addition 
to being accepted as the basis for a new wage agreement for the bituminous 
coal miners, will promote the public welfare and make for a settled condi- 
tion in the industry. No settlement can be had in this matter, permanent 
and lasting in its benefits, as affecting either the miners, the coal operators, 
or the general public, unless the findings of this body are comprehensive in 
their character and embrace and guard at every point the public interest. 
To this end, I deem it important that your conclusion should be reached 
by unanimous action. Upon your acceptance of this appointment, I shall 
be pleased to call an early meeting of the commission at Washington, so 
that you may promptly lay out plans for your work. 
Sincerely, yours, 

Woodrow Wilson. 

Mr. Henry M. Robinson, Ravenna, Ohio. 

(Similar letters to John P. White and Rembrandt Peale.) 

The following is the statement of December 6, referred to above: 

December 6, 1919. 

I have watched with deep concern the development in the bituminous 
coal strike and am convinced that there is much confusion in the minds of 
the people generally and possibly of both parties to this unfortunate con- 
troversy as to the attitude and purposes of the Government in its hand- 
ling of the situation. 

The mine owners offered a wage increase of 20 per cent conditioned, 
however, upon the price of coal being raised to an amount sufficient to cover 
this proposed increase of wages, which would have added at least $150,- 
000,000 to the annual coal bill of the people. The Fuel Administrator in 
the light of present information has taken the position, and I think with 
entire justification, that the public is now paying as high prices for coal 
as it ought to be required to pay and that any wage increase made at this 
time ought to come out of the profits of the coal operators. 

In reaching this conclusion, the Fuel Administrator expressed the per- 
sonal opinion that a 14 per cent increase in all mine wages is reasonable 
because it would equalize the miners' wages on the average with the cost 
of living, but he made it perfectly clear that the operators and miners are 
at liberty to agree upon a larger increase, provided the operators will pay 
it out of their profits so that the price of coal would remain the same. 



1 EEP0P.T5 OP BETDMOrOUS GOAL COMMISSION. 

The in an eSor: at :.:_:. etween the parties, 
lion in favor of a larger increase. His efforts 
-liarion fail* because Hie coal operai rs were unwilling 
pay the scale : pro] sed vernraent would advance 
price of coal to the public and this eat was unwilling to do. 

Thf Fuel Administrator has also suggested that a tribu_ 
in which the miners and opea rs would be equally : 
s piestions if wages and working xmditions as well is profits 

of operators and proie: prices foi eoaL I shall, of cour- T be ... 
aid in the formation of such a tribunal 

I onderstand the operators have generally agreed : absorb an iner -- 
: K ; :_ .:: in ":_--. ?•: thai the public would pay not t 
present price fixed by the Fuel Administrator, and thus a way is jpened 
to secure the coal of which thr people stand in need, if the mi tip rs 
i :ne work on these tLhis pending thorough investigs an ini- 

tial commission, which may IJost both wages and 

Ev Thr acceptance of such a plan, the miners are assured inline 
steady employment at substantial increase in wages and are further 
.red prom:: investigation and action upon questions which are not 
now settled : their satisfaction. I must believe that with a clear under- 
st an ling i these points they will promptly return to work. If, never- 
theless, they pe rsi st in remain:. >n strike they will put themselves 
in an attitude of striking in order tc force the rmment to increase 

the price of coal to the publi:. sc as : give still further increase 
in wages this :::_:r rather than allow the question of a further 

incre: se in wages fcc be lealt with in an orderly manner by a fairly 
stituted tribunal representing all parties in inters:. 

X: group of our people can justify such a position, and the miners owe 
i: :: themselves, their family-. :iirir fellow workmen in other indns 
and to their country to return to work. 

tame liately ui general resumption of mining I shall be glad to aid 

in the prompt formation of such a tribunal as I have indicated to make 
further inquirir- intc this wh le mattei and to review not only ~he reason- 
ableness :: :_~ wages at iiich the miners start to work but alsc the rea- 
sonableness of the : vernment prices for coaL Such a tribunal should 
within 60 lays m ake its import, which could be used as a basis :: aego- 
tiation of a wage agreement. I must make it clear, however, tha 
7- -eminent can not give its aid : any sach further investigation until 
the:? is genera] :T?amption of work. 

I ask every individual mine* : give his T_ = :»nal thought to what I 
I hope he understands fully that he will be hurting his >wn Interest and 
the interest := his family and will be throwing conn: r laboring 

men rat : employment if he shall continue the present strike, and further, 
that he will create an unnecessary and unfortunate prejudice against 
organized labor ~Mch will be iniuri: us :: the best interests :: ~:rking- 
men everywhere 

~ - : ::: y ? Wns h 

The memorandum referred to a we is as follows : 

In accordance with the request :: Hie President, as contained in his 
st :ement of I>ecember 6. the miners will immedu be3b/ return to " 
the 14 per cent increase in wages ~iich is already in effect. Immediately 

d a general resumption z iterations, w iiich shall be in all 
ex ept as tc wa ges upon the basis which obtained on October 31. 1919, the 
resident will appoint a commission _ rbree persoafs, me rf whom shall 
mine ~iier or operator in active business, which commission will con- 
si :• further questions :z wages and working 3 as well as profits 

: srators and proper prices for coaL readjusting both wages and 
if it shall so leeide, including differentials and internal conditions within 
and between districts Its report will be made within 60 days, if possible, 
and will be accept : a new wage agreement, the ef& 

date and duration of which shall alsc -:ermined by the commissi 

In addition you issued the following Executive order, in <: : lez tc 
permit this commission to obtain necessary aid and infonna::::"- 
from the various governmental departments: 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 11 

In order that the commission consisting of Henry M. Robinson, Rem- 
brandt Peale, and John P. White, appointed by me on December 19, 1919, 
to consider questions of wages, working conditions, and other matters in 
the bituminous coal fields, may avail itself of data and information in the 
possession of the several executive departments, independent Government 
establishments, boards, commissions, or other agencies of the Government, 
it is hereby ordered that such data and information as may be asked for 
by the commission shall be furnished. 

Woodeow Wilson. 

The White House, 

January, 8, 1920. 

PROCEDURE. 

The commission determined that it should first hear the statements 
and demands of the mine workers in the central competitive field. 
consisting of the States of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and western 
Pennsylvania, and then the statements and demands of the opera- 
tors in the same field, as this field has for many years been used as 
the basis for arriving at wage scales and agreements in other dis- 
tricts. Subsequent to the hearings of the central competitive field 
the commission heard the cases of the miners and operators in the 
outlying districts. 

Following this the commission determined to hear the statements 
of consumers generally, particularly those whose problems might 
best show the actual conditions existing throughout the country, 
especially in regard to stability and distribution of the coal supply. 

THE POSITION OF THE MINERS. 

Acting President John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers of 
America, presented the principal demands of the mine workers, as 
follows : 

1. That there be a 60 per cent increase upon all classifications 
by daj^ labor, tonnage, yardage, and day work in the central 
competitive field. That, of course, carries with it that the basis 
of understanding reached in the central competitive field on the 
part of the mine workers would be satisfactory in all outlying 
coal-producing districts. 

2. That a six-hour day, five days per week, be established. 

3. That the day labor be paid time and a half for overtime and 
double time for Sundays and holidays. 

4. That pay days shall be upon a weekly basis. 

5. That the double shift of work on coal for commercial ton- 
nage be abolished. 

6. That the automatic penalty clause be abolished. 

7. That the internal differences not covered by interstate 
joint agreement shall be referred back to the respective districts 
for adjustment. 

8. That any contract negotiated be effective from and after 
November 1, 1919, to run for a period of two years from that 
date. 



12 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 



The position of the miners was presented by the following dele- 
gates : 

CENTRAL COMPETITIVE FIELD. 

National representatives appearing in conjunction with scale committee of 
the central competitive field : 

Lewis, John L. 1 Green, William. 1 Bittner, Van. A. 1 

Western Pennsylvania, District No. 5. 



Murray, Philip. 1 
Gibbons, Robert R. 
Hargest, William. 
O'Leary, John. 
Ragan, Patrick. 
McWee, John. 



Moore, John. 1 
Hall, Lee. 
Savage, G. W. 1 



Stewart, Edward. 1 
Raney, W. H. 
Mitch, William. 1 



Farrington, Frank.* 
Fishwick, Harry. 
William, Ben. 



Leithold, Frank. 
Kavanaugh, William. 
Flood, James. 
Hughes, Thomas. 
Gulick, Fred. 
Haynes, William. 

Ohio, District No. 6. 

Robinnetj William. 
Cecil, George. 
Price, Thomas J. 

Indiana, District No. 11. 

Hessler, John. 
Fettinger, Charles. 
Hall, U. G. 

Illinois, District No. 12. 

Nesbit, Walter. 
Sneed, William J. 1 
Yearsley, Joseph. 



Teare, William. 
Vogel, John. 
Crawley, Harry. 
Fasson, Andy. 
Hagan, Michael. 
Jordan, Clyde. 



Saxton, John. 
Roy, William. 
Thompson, Will C. 



Sutch, Harry. 
Lentz, Harry. 



Grace, Charles. 
McAllister, Robert T. 



Stevenson, William. 1 



Lewis, J. G. 1 
Morris, J. M. 
Gay, John. 1 
Ballantyne, Samuel. 
Agnossen, J. P. 
Watkins, D. H. 



MICHIGAN, DISTRICT NO. 24. 
Muir, William W. 1 
IOWA, DISTRICT NO. 13. 



McCully, Thomas. 
Elsberry, AY. T. 
Romesburg, F. T. 
Simmons, J. R. 
Gibbons, W. H. 
Morgan, E. J. 



Yancey, D. C. 
Crook, Neal. 
White, Tom. 
Jones, C. E. 



SOUTHWESTERN INTERSTATE FIELD. 
Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas, District No. 21. 
Wilkinson, John. 1 Doyle, James. Dalrimple, W. M. 



Speaker at the hearings. 



Frampton, D. A. 1 



Peck, G. L. 1 



Drennan, Henry. 1 



Haiiin, Robert H. 1 



Cahill, Martin. 
Young, George. 



EEPOKTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 
Missouri, District No. 25. 
Hepple, George. 
Kansas, District No. 14. 
Cunningham, Thomas. 
MONTANA, DISTRICT NO. 27. 
Ely, Stephen. 
WASHINGTON, DISTRICT NO. 10. 

Farrimond, Ben. Caddy, Samuel. 

WYOMING, DISTRICT NO. 22. 
McLeod, Hugh. 



13 



Morgan, James D. 1 



COLORADO, DISTRICT NO. 15. 



President Lewis 1 presented report prepared by O. F. Nigro, president Dis- 
trict No. 15. 

W T ESTERN KENTUCKY, DISTRICT NO. 23. 

Duncan, W. D. 1 Jackson, Lonnie. 1 

ALABAMA, DISTRICT NO. 20. 

Kennamer, J. R. Harrison, W. L. 1 

TENNESSEE AND EASTERN KENTUCKY, DISTRICT NO. 19. 



Keller, S. A. 1 
Brooks, J. W. 
Walters, Frank. 



Dees, George H. 
Henderson, J. J. 
Branam, George. 



Goins, J. L. 
Rogers, George. 
Cope, R. B. 



Keeney, Frank C. 1 
Mooney, Fred. 



WEST VIRGINIA, KANAWHA FIELD, DISTRICT NO. 17. 
Peters, A. T. Scott, Brant. 



CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA, DISTRICT NO. 2. 



Brophy, John. 1 
Marks, James. 1 
Gilbert, Richard. 
Duffy, P. J. 
Welsh, William. 
Crago, Harry. 
Bunzer, John. 



Feely, James. 
Swartzenthruver, Ed. 1 
Jones, A. W. 
Guyer, Adolph. 
Ghovvent, John. 
Carletti, Herman. 
Ferrara, Peter. 



James, H. M. 
Nunemaker, Sam. 
Pan vera, Joseph. 
Hudzinski, Stanley 
Chamber, Sam. 
McMullen, Alex. 
Kane, William. 



MARYLAND, DISTRICT NO. 1G. 
Drum, Francis. 1 



Speaker at the hearings. 



14 KEPOKTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

THE POSITION OF THE OPERATORS. 

The operators primarily adopted a defensive attitude, presenting 
their counterclaims to the miners' demands as incidental to their 
defense, but these counterclaims may be summarized as follows as to 
the central competitive field. The operators asked: 

1. That the present system of collecting dues and initiation 
fees for the mine workers and enforcing the payments thereof 
by deductions from their earnings through the officers of the 
operators be abolished. 

2. That the commission fix an equitable method for dealing 
with house rent charged mine workers and the price charged 
the miners for domestic coal. 

3. That the commission recommend to the Congress of the 
United States the enactment of legislation requiring associa- 
tions of employees, which make contracts of employment with 
employers, to take such action as will make them legally respon- 
sible for the fulfillment of the contracts so entered into. 

4. That the national officers of the United Mine Workers of 
America and the national organization being parties to the mak- 
ing of the contract be required to assume responsibility for 
enforcing the terms of such contracts in the various districts, 
notwithstanding the present limitations in the constitution of 
the United Mine Workers of America. 

5. That the contract shall provide that time clocks or time 
devices may be installed at mines and that the miners and inside 
day men be required to register when they enter or leave the 
mines and that the outside day force be required to register 
when they arrive at or leave the mines. All men refusing to 
comply with such requirements to be subject to discharge. 

6. That the commission in its award provide for the introduc- 
tion of devices or machinery which may serve to reduce the cost 
of coal and consequently the cost to the public for which there 
is no scale of wages in the then existing contract. 

7. That whatever contract the commission works out or recom- 
mends should expire on the 31st of March, 1922 ; that contracts 
should expire in the spring and should stand for a two-year 
period. 

The position of the operators was presented by the following 
delegates : 

CENTRAL COMPETITIVE FIELD. 

Crews, Ralph, 1 counsel for operators. 

The following men presented exhibits for the Central Competitive Field : 

Honnold, Dr. F. C. 1 Lesher, C. E. 1 Muller, Jean Paul 1 

Pennsylvania. 

Armstrong, J. M. Guthrie, T. W. 1 Robison, W. L. 

Donaldson, J. A. Henderson, W. M. Rose, Don 1 

Field, W. K. Mahoney, John Pollock, A. R. 

Fear, Thomas. Calverley, W. R. 

1 Speaker at the hearings. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 
Ohio. 



15 



Augustus, A. A. 
Gallagher, Michel 
Robbins, S. H. 



Freeman, W. J. 
Gould, M. L. 
Penna, P. H.* 



Adams, N. C. 
Brewster, T. T. 1 
Searls, E. C. 



Diamond, William 1 
Coryell, John A. 



Gushing, D. F. 1 
Norwood, J. 
Hunter, Robert 



Haskins, W. H. 
Jones, George M. 
Weitzel, C. A. 

Indiana. 

Ingle, David 
Kolsem, J. C. 
Shirkie, Hugh 

' Illinois. 

Buchanan, D, W. 
Harrington, Geo. B. 
Spencer, William J. 

MICHIGAN. 
Randall, R. M. 



IOWA. 

Pfahler, F. S. 
Heaps, Geo. 



Maurer, C. E. 1 
Pursglove, Joseph 



Logsden, E. D. 
Ogle, Alfred M. 



Miller, Rice 
Perry, Herman O. 



Coryell, Charles 



Ryan, J. B. 1 
McClure, Sam 



SOUTHWESTERN INTERSTATE FIELD. 

Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, and Texas. 



Wilson, J. B. 1 
Malloy, P. W. 
Cameron, James 



Whyte, F. W. C? 
Kopka, H. S. 



Buckingham, D. O. 1 
Moore, N. D. 1 
Ryzek, John. 



Addison, Herbert 1 
Brown, George A. 



Aston, W. H. 1 
Gower, Gomer 1 
Taylor, H. N. 1 

MONTANA. 
Brophy, J. F. 1 

WASHINGTON. 

Johnson, B» H. 
Foster, C. A. 
Needing, F. 

WYOMING. 

Quealy, P. J. 1 
Pape, D. H. 

COLORADO. 

Bartlett, G W. s 



Johnson, W. L. A. 1 
Hawkins, W. P. 
Clemens, Ira 1 



Needhan, James B. 



Anderson, C. C. 
Grombs, J. B. 
Barmnn, W. M. 1 



Whyte, F. W. C, 



1 Speaker at the hearings 



16 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 



Norman, J. V. 1 
Brown, R. L. 



Berry, P. D. 



Morton, Qnin. 
Duma, B. C. 



Puckett, W. M. 



Webb, Louis M. 



WESTERN KENTUCKY. 
Western Kentucky Coal Operators' Association. 

Rash, F. D. 



Tucker, H. L. 
Duncan, W. G. 



Operators' Association. 

Lanier, S. S. Ceil, H. H. 

WEST VIRGINIA AND KANAWHA FIELD. 

Kanawha Coal Operators' Association. 

Robinson, Carl. Stayton, AY. H., jr. 1 

Kennedy, D. C. 1 

Cabin Creek Operators. 

Cabell, C. A. Laing, John. 

Big Coal River Operators' Association. 

Hornickel, G. H. Morton, D. H. 

Fairmount Field. 



Fleming, Brooks. 
Lyon, Frank. 



Gross, B. B. 



Clark, B. M. 1 
Forsythe, J. C. 1 
Boulton, Harry. 
Watkins, T. H. 
Shillingford, G. Webb. 



Beeson, A. C. 
Jenkins, C. H. 



Spraker, J. D. 

Brennan, E. 



Separate Companies. 
Snyder, P. M. Evans, W. M. 

CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA. 



Bracken, M. J. 
Scott, H. B. 
Caseley, J. N. 
Kelley, Thos. F. 
Wetter, J. Wm. 



Sommerville, J. S. 
Sommerville, B. H. 
Jones, W. A. 1 
Maxwell, G. B. 



THE ACCEPTANCE OP THE DECISION. 

In the opening hearing, January 12. 1920, Mr. John L. Lewis, act- 
ing president of the United Mine Workers of America, recorded an 
agreement to abide by the findings and award of the commission. 
His statement follows: 

I am advised, Mr. Chairman, that the United Mine Workers 
are here to assist the Bituminous Coal Commission in every 
proper and practical way to arrive at their conclusions, and to 
cooperate in every manner, and to submit our interests to the 
commission, without reservation, and shall abide by the judg- 
ment of the commission. 

The operators in all districts, with the exception of — 

Southern Appalachian Coal Operators' Association, represent- 
ing eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, 



1 Speaker at the hearings. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 17 

Alabama Coal Operators' Association, 

Colorado Fuel & Iron Co., 

Operators' Association of Western Kentucky (represented by 

Mr. V. G. Moore), 
New River Field of West Virginia, 
Georges Creek Coal Operators' Association of Maryland, 

also appeared before the commission and agreed to submit the mat- 
ters in controversy to the commission and abide by its findings and 
it wards, only pointing out their legal inability to agree to fixed 
prices. 

Note. — The Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. notified the commission that 
the company does not operate under contract with the United Mine 
Workers of America, but forwarded a detailed statement of working 
time for the month of October, 1919, of all employees at six of its 
mines " in the hope that it will be helpful to the commission in its 
determination of wage rates to apply to Colorado coal operations." 

Mr. V. G. Moore, representing the Operators' Association of West- 
ern Kentucky, stated that the operators of the association which he 
represented (operating in Hopkins County and associated mines) 
w T ould not undertake to defend their position before the commission. 
The reason for this, Mr. Moore stated, Avas that the operators in his 
association were already acting under a contract with the United 
Mine Workers of America, and that the said contract had not ex- 
pired. In reply to a question by Commissioner White, Mr. Moore 
stated that the contract of his association w T ith the United Mine 
Workers of America carries a stipulation that " in the event the 
wage recited in the contract between the United Mine Workers of 
America and the Western Kentucky Coal Operators' Association is 
altered by contract, then the wage scale recited in our contract shall 
be increased or decreased proportionately." 

Mr. Moore further stated : 

If the award of the commission should later become the basis 
of a contract betAveen the United Mine Workers of America and 
the Western Kentucky Coal Operators' Association, then our 
Avage scale would haye to be increased or decreased proportion- 
ately under that contract. 

The representative of the New River Coal Operators' Association 
of West Virginia, Mr. T. L. Lewis, stated that his association was 
not a party to the decision of the commission because of the fact 
that in the New River field a new T contract had been established " by 
order of the Department of Justice as of February 1." Mr. Lewis 
stated that he did not consider that the operators he represented 
were a bound by the decisions of the commission outside of that con- 
tract itself." 



18 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

The Georges Creek Coal Operators' Association of Maryland, 
through its president, John S. Brophy, informed the commission 
by letter that — 

There is now in full force and effect an agreement betwen individual coal 
operators of the Maryland and upper Potomac coal fields and their respec- 
tive employees * * * This agreement is dated May 6, 1918, and signed 
by the representatives of the operators and their employees and approved 
by the United States Fuel Administrator on May 15, 1918, continuing for a 
period of at least two years and thereafter subject to revision upon 90 
days' notice. 

This agreement was made necessary, so as to be consistent with President 
Wilson's order to the Fuel Administrator, under date of October 27, 1917, 
and Dr. Garfield's order of October 29, 1917, providing methods for the ad- 
justment of disputes between the employers and employees of the non- 
union coal fields, of which Maryland and the upper Potomac districts are a 
part. The umpire appointed under the agreement is adjudicating all claims 
appealed to him, including the question of the 14 per cent. 

Mr. Brophy stated that in view of the facts above presented he 
did not see how he coidd advise the members of his association to 
present their positions before the commission. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 

The figures submitted by the miners and the operators were not 
sufficiently exhaustive to form the complete basis for the commis- 
sion's decision, and for that reason the commission obtained much 
additional information which was of great value in determining the 
findings on which its awards and recommendations are based. 

The commission, therefore, desires to make full acknowledgment 
not only to the miners and the operators for the character and quan- 
tity of the additional and specific information furnished at its re- 
quest, but also to the various departments of the Government that 
under the authority of the Executive order previously quoted co- 
operated with this commission. 

In this connection the commission desires to call special attention 
to information and assistance furnished it by the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Geological Survey, 
the Bureau of Mines, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Trade 
Commission, the United States Council of National Defense, the 
United States Railroad Administration, the Department of Justice, 
the Interstate Commerce Commission, and the Library of Congress. 

The commission furthermore wishes to make acknowledgment for 
aid and information furnished it by the Bureau of Applied Eco- 
nomics, the Bureau of Railway Economics, the American Institute of 
Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, and those insurance companies 
having data on the industrial hazard of coal mining. 

In addition, and before taking up the general discussion of the 
relations existing between the miners and the operators, we wish to 
call attention to the fact that not all the criticism which the general 



REPOKTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 19 

public has directed against the miners and operators is justified, be- 
cause in some instances we have found abuses on the part of both 
wholesalers and retailers, who have added excessive charges and 
passed the blame for their practices on to the two producing groups. 

HISTOUY OF THE CONTKOVEUSY. 

In considering the various claims of the miners and operators, we 
made an examination of the conditions which led up to the strike 
and found that the scale agreement of the central competitive field, 
effective from April 1, 1914, to. April 1, 1916, was merely a reaffirma- 
tion of the wage-scale agreement adopted April 1, 1912. 

The 1916 new wage agreement was the result of a joint conference 
which opened at Mobile, Ala., February 8, 1916, and reconvened in 
New York City February 21, 1916. The agreement was concluded 
March 9, 1916, effective April 1, 1916, and provided for the ending of 
the agreement on March 31, 1918. This agreement provided for an 
advance of three cents per ton at the basing points, plus elimination 
of the differential between the Pittsburgh thin vein and the rate then 
existing in eastern Ohio. It also provided for a universal adoption 
of the mine-run system of pay in the central competitive field and for 
a 5 per cent increase over existing prices on day labor, dead work, 
yardage, and room turning. 

Following the adoption of this agreement, the full effect of the 
war, which had been raging in Europe since August, 1911, began to 
be felt in this country through increased cost of living resulting from 
purchases of supplies by the allied nations. 

As a result of these increases in living costs and the sudden rise in 
the selling price of coal — due to the abnormal demand — the miners 
became dissatisfied with their wage rates, particularly in the eastern 
section of the United States. The labor situation also became acute 
by reason of the fact that immigration had been cut off and the ab- 
normal demand for all kinds of production had caused a shortage of 
men, with the result that industries began bidding against each other 
for men by increasing wage rates or by paying bonuses. 

This condition made itself felt in the mining industry in central 
Pennsylvania and certain of the West Virginia fields in the fall of 
1916 and almost immediately spread throughout the country. The 
result of this was that in some sections, where bonuses were not 
offered, the miners resorted to strikes to force their employers to 
meet the situation developed at the neighboring mine where a bonus 
had been voluntarily granted. 

So serious did this situation become that in several large mining 
districts it threatened to wreck the entire joint relationship in con- 



20 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

tracts then existing between the operators' association and the United 
Mine Workers of America. 

To meet this situation an informal joint conference of coal opera- 
tors &nd coal miners of western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and 
Illinois (the central competitive field) met in Indianapolis, Ind., 
April 5 and 6, 1917. This informal conference resulted in the hold- 
ing of a formal interstate joint conference of the central competi- 
tive field at the McAlpin Hotel, New York City, April 12 to 17, 

1917. This conference concluded an agreement bearing date of 
April 17, 1917, effective April 16, 1917, to continue until March 31, 

1918, and providing for an advance of 10 cents per ton on pick and 
machine mining rates, and, on all day labor, an increase of 60 cents 
per day, including monthly men — no advance on dead work or 
yardage. 

Following this agreement, with the continued demands of the war- 
ring nations for the products of the United States, the situation in 
the coal-mining industry, particularly as to selling prices and labor, 
kept growing more unsatisfactory, inasmuch as other industries kept 
bidding for labor — and the living costs continued to increase, with 
the effect of both miners and operators forgetting their contract obli- 
gations — individual operators raising wage rates or paying bonuses 
to attract labor from competing mines and the miners in other mines 
striking to force their employers to pay increased wage rates or 
bonuses. 

In the meantime the country became alarmed over the situation, 
and an attempt was made, through Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of 
the Interior, to bring about a stable situation with respect to selling 
prices of coal, which resulted in the formation of a coal committee as 
part of the Council of National Defense, with Mr. F. S. Peabody, of 
Chicago, as chairman. This committee called a meeting of coal oper- 
ators from all parts of the United States to convene in Washington 
early in June, 1917. As a result of this meeting there was promul- 
gated by the committee a set of prices for bituminous coal through- 
out the United States, which was agreed to by the coal operators. 

This agreement is known as the Peabody-Lane agreement, The 
price agreed upon was effective July 1, 1917. 

In July, the President, under the Lever law, fixed the prices at $2 
per ton f. o. b. mines, effective August 20, 1917. 

A Fuel Administrator was appointed August 21, 1917. This, of 
course, eliminated the production committee and Dr. H. A. Garfield 
took full charge of the coal industry of the United States. 

The situation had at that time again become acute, with the result 
that a joint conference of coal operators and coal miners of the cen- 
tral competitive field was held in Washington, D. C, September 25, 
1917, which resulted in an agreement bearing date of October 6, 1917, 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 21 

providing for an advance of 10 cents per ton on pick and machine 
mining rates, and an advance of $1.40 per day to all day labor and 
monthly men, with a 15 per cent advance on yardage, dead work, and 
room turning. This agreement provided for an automatic penalty 
clause which was an extension of a practice in effect in several large 
districts and was subject to the following conditions: 

This agreement is subject to and will become effective only 
on the condition that the selling price of coal shall be advanced 
by the United States Government sufficient to cover the increased 
cost in the different districts affected and will take effect on the 
first clay of the pay period following the order advancing such 
pric e. 
It also provided, subject to the next biennial convention of the 
United Mine Workers of America, that the mine workers' representa- 
tives agree that the then contract be extended during the continuation 
of the Avar, but not to exceed two years from April 1, 1918. Follow- 
ing the adoption of this agreement, on or about October 27, 1917, the 
United States Fuel Administrator issued an order increasing the 
selling price of bituminous coal 45 cents per ton, effective November 
1. 1917, to cover the increase in wages provided in the aforesaid 
agreement. 

In January, 1918, the biennial convention of the United Mine 
Workers of America met at Indianapolis, at which meeting the 
Washington wage agreement was adopted by the convention. Dur- 
ing August, 1918, the United Mine Workers of America again made 
appeal to the United States Fuel Administrator for a further in- 
crease in wages, due to the increased cost of living. 
Dr. Garfield denied this request. 

In February, 1919, Frank J. Hays, then president of mine work- 
ers, called a meeting of the international executive board, presidents 
of the different districts, and other representatives at Indianapolis, 
which meeting was termed a meeting of the policy committee. This 
policy committee adopted a report, embodying the following de- 
mands : 

1. A substantial increase in wages. 

2. A six-hour day. 

3. Nationalization of coal mines. 

The next important step was the interpretations placed upon the 
policy committee's report by representative leaders of the United 
Mine Workers in different parts of the United States, which inter- 
pretations resulted in the formulation of demands of the United 
Mine Workers by the convention held at Cleveland. September 22, 
1919. 

A joint conference of coal miners and operators of the central 
competitive field was called at Buffalo, September 23, 1919. The 
171797°— 20 3 



22 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

miners submitted the demands of the Cleveland convention in writ- 
ing to the operators. The joint conference of the miners and op- 
erators recessed at Buffalo on October 2 and reconvened at Phila- 
delphia on October 9, 1919, to continue negotiations, but adjourned, 
sine die and without agreement, on October 11, 1919. 

On October 15 Acting President John L. Lewis, of the United 
Mine Workers of America, sent out a strike order to the members 
of his organization, calling for cessation of mining operations on 
midnight of October 31. 

On October 17, W. B. Wilson, Secretary of Labor, invited a con- 
ference of the scale committee of operators and miners to meet at 
his office Tuesday, October 21. The scale committee of the operators 
and miners met in Secretary Wilson's office for four days, but on 
October 24 Secretary Wilson stated that he had been unsuccessful 
in his efforts and that a further conference would be useless. 

On November 1, 1919, the strike began. About 400,000 union 
miners walked out. About 200,000 nonunion miners remained at 
work. 

In the meantime, on October 21, the Attorney General filed a bill 
in equity in the United States district court of Indianapolis pray- 
ing for an injunction restraining the miners from striking. Such 
an order was issued by Judge A. B. Anderson, and was followed by 
a writ of temporary injunction dated November 8, under which the 
union officers were ordered to cancel and revoke the strike order, 
which order was accordingly revoked in a form approved by the 
court, but the men did not return to work and in effect the strike 
still continued. 

President Wilson asked Fuel Administrator Garfield to resume 
his duties on October 30. The Fuel Administrator at once put into 
effect an order restoring war-time prices and distribution of both 
anthracite and bituminous coal. 

Government maximum prices, which had been in effect during the 
war, had been suspended by an order of the Fuel Administrator dated 
January 18, 1919, effective February 1, 1919. (It must be remem- 
bered that from February 1 until October 30, 1919, no restrictions 
were in effect either as to prices or distribution of bituminous or 
anthracite coal.) 

Following the strike order more and more coal was seized by the 
Fuel Administrator and distributed by the Railroad Administration 
as the country began to feel the pinch of the strike. 

All that time the miners took the stand that their contract with 
the operators had expired because the war, to all practical pur- 
poses, was ended, while the operators claimed that the miners had 
broken their contract, because the}* had agreed to work until April 
1, 1920, or until peace Avas promulgated. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 23 

On November 18 Secretary of Labor W. B. Wilson issued an 
invitation to coal miners and operators from all the bituminous coal 
producing fields of the United States to meet at Washington, and a 
conference was held at which the Secretary of Labor made several 
suggestions : First, that a general joint conference of all the fields of 
the United States be held. Second, that the central competitive field 
hold its joint conference and the other producing districts hold their 
joint conference concurrently with the central competitive field. 
Third, that the central competitive field take up and begin negotia- 
tions again. The third of these propositions was accepted and the 
joint conference was again convened. 

On November 20 the operators made a proposition giving an 
advance of 15 cents per ton on pick and machine mining and 20 per 
cent on day work, conditioned upon the Fuel Administrator grant- 
ing an increase in selling prices. This offer was rejected by the 
miners, who reiterated their original demands. These were modified 
the next day, November 21, by a demand for a 40 per cent increase, 
which was immediately voted down by the operators. Following 
this Secretary Wilson ended the meeting by submitting a proposition 
providing for an increase of 31.61 per cent to the wages of the 
miners. 

On November 24, 1919, Dr. Garfield appeared before the joint com- 
mittee and enunciated the following principles : 

(1) The public must not be asked to pay more than it is uoav 
paying for coal unless it is necessary to do so in order to provide 
reasonable wages to the mine workers and a reasonable profit to 
the operators. 

(2) The arrangement entered into between the operators, the 
mine workers, and the Fuel Administrator, with the sanction of 
the President of the United States in October, 1917, was intended 
to equalize the wages of all classes of mine workers and to be 
sufficient to cover the period of the war, but not beyond March 
31, 1920 ; hence the only increase in cost of living which can now 
be considered is the increase above that provided for by the 
average increase in 1917 ; that is to say, the average total increase 
in pay over the 1913 base, which was the base considered in 1917, 
should not exceed the present average increase in the cost of 
living over the same base. It is also to be considered that the 
cost of living will fall rather than rise during the next few years. 

(3) The maximum prices fixed by the Government on coal 
were calculated to increase production of coal for war purposes. 
Coal was basic and the increase imperative. The public ought 
not be asked to pay and will not now pay the increase over 
normal profits then allowed for the purpose of stimulating pro- 
duction. 

(4) Any increases in wages now arrived at on the basis of the 
foregoing principles should be borne by the operators or the 
public or both, as may be determined ' by the application of 



24 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION, 

these principles, and should take effect as of the date when the 
men returned to work. 

(5) The needs of the United States are not alone to be con- 
sidered: Europe is in desperate need of coal and should have 
all that we can spare. 

On Wednesday, November 26, Dr. Garfield stated his conclusions 
as follows: 

Dr. Garfield. Having previously laid before you the line of action to be 
pursued by the Fuel Administration, and later the principles which were 
governing us, I bring you to-night the conclusions. On the 24th instant I 
announced that the public must not be asked to pay more than it is now 
paying for coal unless it is necessary to do so in order to provide reason- 
able wages to the mine workers and a reasonable profit to the operators. 
Careful investigation forces me to the conclusion that, in accordance with 
this and other principles set forth in the statement of November 24, the 
public must not be required to pay any increase in coal prices at this time. 
****** * 

Applying the principles set forth in paragraph 2 of the statement of 
November 2,4, when the average increases in wages since 1913 for the 
various classes of mine workers are deducted from the increase in the cost 
of living since that time, we arrive at the amount of additional increase in 
wages justifiable at the present time. I have taken the figures of the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics for both cost of living and for the weighted 
averages of wage increase. According to these figures the cost of living 
has risen 79.8 per cent since 1913, and the amount necessary to bring tbe 
average wages of mine workers up to this point at the present time is 14 
per cent. 

The miners rejected this proposition, but were willing to accept the 
Wilson proposition. The operators immediately issued a statement 
accepting the proposition of Dr. Garfield. 

The strike still continued, and on December 3 Dr. Garfield issued 
an order restricting the use of coal to essential purposes. 

In the meantime the leaders of the United Mine Workers were 
summoned to appear before Judge Anderson on December 9 to 
answer charges of contempt of court in not obeying the court's orders 
to stop the strike. 

On December G an understanding was reached for the settlement 
of the strike controversy which was accepted by the miners in their 
conference at Indianapolis, December 10. 

Work was resumed as soon thereafter as possible. 

Dr. Garfield then resigned as Fuel Administrator and on December 
20 the President created this commission, with powers and duties as 
previously outlined herein. 

AMOUNT OF 14 PEE CENT INCREASE PAID BY CONSUMING PUBLIC. 

It was developed in the hearings before the commission that the 
major portion of the tonnage shipped since the 14 per cent increase 
was shipped under contracts which carried what is generally known 
as a standard wage clause and which provided for an increase in the 
cost to the purchaser equivalent to the increase in cost resulting from 
an increased wage scale. The commission inquired into this subject 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 25 

at some length ; and while the information submitted is incomplete, 
we believe it is fair for us to report that in the neighborhood of 80 
per cent of the total tonnage that has moved since October 31, 1919, 
has moved under such contracts, and the consumer has paid, or will 
pay, an amount equal to the increase in the labor cost on the tonnage 
stated. 

This statement is made in order that there may be no misunder- 
standing on the part of the public and the public rate-making au- 
thorities. 

INTERMITTENCY IN WORKING BAYS. 

Irregularity of mining operations is the primary cause of the un- 
satisfactory condition of the industry and results in high prices of 
coal and dissatisfaction among the miners. 

The principal causes of this irregularity are the seasonal character 
of the market and the inadequacy and irregularity of car supply. In 
order to stabilize the industry and alleviate the irregularity of the 
market, we feel that the purchasing and consuming public on the one 
hand, and the carriers on the other hand, have certain specific duties 
to perform. 

It is evidently the public's duty to aid in the stabilization of the 
coal market by purchasing and arranging to store as much coal as 
possible during the spring and summer. It is the carriers' duty to 
furnish as much equipment as possible for the movement of coal, and, 
above all, to see that there is no discrimination in the distribution of 
the equipment which is now at their disposal. 

In considering these facts, we had in mind the two basic principles : 

(1) That a seasonal demand develops a seasonal price, which 
is a double charge against the consumer, since this price must be 
high enough to carry the expenses of the dull period and also 
high enough to carry the extra expenses of additional equipment 
needed to handle the business in rush periods. 

(2) That seasonal idleness breeds unrest in any group of men 
and in any industry. 

The coal industry is a part-time industry, the number of idle days, 
out of a possible 308 working-days, being G3 in 1918 and 115 in 1919. 
On the average for the past 30 years, the number of possible working 
days, when the mines were not in operation, was 93. This loss of 
time may be analyzed by causes for the last two years as follows : 



Cause of idle time. 



1918 



1919 



Per cent Per cent 



Car short ace 


49 
14 

s 

6 


17 


1 a! or shmage and strikes 




Mine disability 


ti 




69 




2 







I ,L 4 



26 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION". 

It will be seen that in 1918, when the demand for coal was at its 
maximum, the principal cause of the lost time was car shortage, and, 
in 1919, when the war demand had ceased, " no market " accounted 
for one-half of the idle days. Labor shortage and strikes accounted 
for about one-fourth of the lost time, and mine disability was re- 
sponsible for 11 per cent in 1918 and for 6 per cent in 1919. 

While coal production increases in accord with national develop- 
ment on an average of approximately 10 per cent per year, yet coal 
production in normal times varies from year to year with general 
industrial conditions. Periods of prosperity and great activity are 
marked by a large production of coal, since fuel is the foundation of 
all industrial enterprises, while years of depression are also low-ebb 
years in coal mining. 

In ozly a few instances, however, does the industry show a loss 
of time below 78 working-days in a year, so that it is a fair inter- 
pretation of the facts that many days of idleness occur in the in- 
dustry regardless of the general level of industrial prosperity. This 
amount of lost time may be ascribed to two main causes: (1) Over- 
development of the industry, and (2) irregular distribution of the 
demand for coal through the year. This results in periods of no 
market, when mines and railroad cars are idle because of a shortage 
in demand for coal, followed by periods of great demand, when 
mines would be worked to capacity were it not for the lack of coal 
cars for the transportation of the product. At the present time 
America requires less than 500,000,000 tons of bituminous coal a 
year, while the capacity of the mines in operation is over 700,- 
000,000 tons. 

Under the stimulus of war demand many new mines were opened 
and many old ones expanded in order to secure sufficient coal to 
meet the exceptional and urgent national requirements. As a result, 
the coal industry, which was speculatively overdeveloped before the 
war, is still more overdeveloped now and employs more capital and 
more labor than is necessary to supply the present needs of the 
country. 

It is not to be expected that exports of coal will increase suffi- 
ciently to absorb a perceptible proportion of the gap between the 
demand for coal and the capacity of mines, as our shipping-terminal 
facilities are such that not more than 25,000,000 tons of coal a year 
can at present be exported. 

Full-time employment in the coal mines can not, therefore, be 
expected until the industry is put on such a basis that only those 
mines remain in operation whose output is required to supply the 
annual needs of the country. 

Even if the overexpansion in the industry were remedied there 
would still be a considerable amount of irregularity in operating 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 27 

time so long as the demand for the bulk of the coal remains concen- 
trated in certain months, with idleness of cars during the slack 
months and shortage of cars during the peak months. 

We believe that steps in the direction of standardizing the de- 
mand for coal should be taken by the principal consumers, and are 
in possession of evidence that many of the largest consumers of 
coal delay purchase and delivery until the late months of the year 
and that outside of that part of the central competitive field having 
Great Lakes shipments, the smallest movement of coal to consuming 
terminals is in the spring and early summer, at which time some 
mines are closed down while others operate irregularly with result- 
ing loss of time to the men, idleness to capital invested in mines, and 
railroad cars, and increased cost of coal to the public. 

The seasonal nature of the demand for coal makes it necessary 
for the mining companies to maintain a capacity sufficient to meet 
the maximum demand in a comparatively short period of time. 
This excessive capacity involves the employment of a large labor 
reserve and is one of the main causes of the labor unrest prevailing 
in the industry. Nor does this fluctuation in production affect only 
the mine and the miners themselves, but spreads to the railroads and 
through the railroads to the entire productive machinery of the 
Nation. 

For many years the railroads, and especially the coal-carrying 
railroads, have to a great extent depended on a practice that has 
grown up of protecting themselves in the winter months by com- 
mandeering coal consigned to other consumers. In some degree the 
public utilities have counted on this form of a priority. The rail- 
roads are consumers of about 30 per cent of the total coal produc- 
tion of the country, and we have presented to certain of the execu- 
tives of the larger systems a request that the railroads accept the 
principle that it is their duty to the public to move coal in the 
months that normally are months of low movements to consumption 
terminals, such movement to be in excess of their then needs, thereby 
gradually accumulating a three months' supply before the winter, the 
railroads to come out at the end of the winter with possibly 20 or 
30 days' supply on hand. This movement would be more economical 
than the movement in the winter, and, from the standpoint of the 
coal railroads at least, the lower cost of movement would, to a groat 
degree, offset any cost of storage. 

The acceptance of this principle by the railroad executive heads 
has been general. The Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York 
Central lines expressed their acceptance in an especially liberal 
spirit. We wish again to state that this is a duty of the railroads 
and that some method should be devised under which they will pro- 
vide such storage. 



Lb REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

In the case of the public utilities we believe that they. too. have a 
duty to perform to the public and should not rely on any form of 
priority when the pressure comes in the winter, and to this end they 
should be called upon to move and store coal in the summer months 
in excess of their needs, going into the winter months with 60 days' 
supply in storage. We feel that these two groups owe this as a duty, 
and that in both cases, if there is an increased cost, it will be recog- 
nized by the rate-making authorities. In the case of the public utili- 
ties it was in effect stated by a representative that he believed this 
plan or principle was sound. 

The next largest group of coal consumers is the steel industry. 
We have presented the problem to certain of the heads of important 
steel concerns, including the United States Steel Corporation, and 
they express an intention of increasing storage of coal and movement 
of the same in the months of low movement along the lines of the 
plan here suggested. 

It is believed that the Federal Reserve Board and the several Fed- 
eral reserve banks will favor considering as eligible for rediscount 
paper drawn against coal in storage. 

In addition to these groups, we recommend strongly that all Gov- 
ernment institutions, national. State, municipal, and local, purchase, 
receive, and store coal during the spring and summer months in an- 
ticipation of the winter's requirements. 

We believe that if the various groups mentioned carry out the plan 
of storing from two to three months' requirements, beginning the 
winter with this supply on hand, the result will be a decided stabili- 
zation of the coal industry, a considerable measure of relief to the 
carriers, and a general economic saving to the public and the Xation, 
and. further, that the practice would result in the minimizing of the 
commandeering and confiscation of coal on the theory of priority. 
We feel, too, that unless some plan of this kind is adopted, we are 
bound to have recurring conditions of coal shortage in the winter 
months as in the past three years, and that no need for such a situ- 
ation exists. 

In this connection, the question of the practicability of storing 
bituminous coal arises. We are fully aware of the difficulties in- 
volved, but feel, on the basis of expert opinion, that these difficulties 
are not insurmountable. In support of this position we quote Mr. 
Van H. Manning, Director of the Bureau of Mines: 

AH types of bituminous coal have been successfully stored, but it can 
also be said that spontaneous combustion has occurred with all types of 
bituminous coal. Practical experience with certain coals has shown their 
tenctency to spontaneous heating. Chemical analysis does not furnish an 
explanation of the cause. While the inherent qualities of bituminous coal 
doubtless have a bearing on the tendency to spontaneous combustion, over- 
emphasis of this fact has diverted attention from the more important facts 
of proper handling and storing methods. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 29 

The heating of coal is cine to the oxidation of the surface of the coal 
substance itself. This oxidation is relatively rapid with freshly broken 
surfaces. The rate of oxidation is also more rapid as the temperature 
increases. These are important factors in the storage of coal. 

The larger part of exposed coal surface is contained in the fine or slack 
coal. The removal of this fine coal from the mass removes the greater 
cause of spontaneous heating. With the fine coal removed, nut and lump 
coal, if not broken in the process of handling, can be stored without dan- 
ger of spontaneous combustion. 

If the method of putting coal into storage is one which produces freshly 
broken surfaces of coal, the chance of spontaneous combustion is greatly 
increased, since the rate of oxidation of fresh coal surfaces is much greater 
than that of older surfaces. Coal breakage is to be avoided for three 
distinct reasons: 

1. The degradation in size makes it less acceptable for all hand-fired 
operations. 

2. There is an increased oxidizuble surface to generate heat. 

3. The surface, being freshly broken, generates an added amount of heat. 

If it is necessary to store fine coal or run-of-the-mine coal, the pile should 
be so constructed that there is no segregation of sizes in the building of 
the pile. Coal can continue to generate heat only by the continued access 
of air to the pile. The air within the pile will have to be renewed from 
30 to 40 times in order to supply a sufficient amount of oxygen to raise the 
pile to a dangerous temperature. If the air movement through a pile can 
be sufficiently restricted, the temperature will not reach a dangerous point. 
Complete protection from the air, as can be had in subaqueous storage, is 
a sure preventive of spontaneous combustion. A pile compactly built 
with the fine and coarse material distributed throughout the whole pile 
may keep the air movement through the pile at a point low enough to 
insure protection against heating. If, however, there is a graduated segre- 
gation from fine to coarse, there is likely to be some place within the pile 
presenting the most favorable condition of moderate air supply to produce 
dangerous temperature. 

Very thorough ventilation of a coal pile, such as ventilating openings 
from top to bottom of the pile every 16 inches, has succeeded in preventing 
undue heating in coal piles in northern climates. Any less extensive 
method of ventilation through fine coal is of doubtful value and is not to be 
recommended. 

The presence of sulphur in coal is thought by many to be the cause of 
spontaneous combustion, but occurs in coals of both high and low sulphur 
content. The oxidation of some forms of sulphur in coal breaks the coal 
and increases the coal surface. The form in which sulphur occurs in the 
coal, rather than its absolute amount, seems to be the point of interest in 
this matter. 

Storing wet coal or the alternate wetting and drying of coal is believe 1 
by many to be favorable to spontaneous combustion. It is probable that 
the result is largely mechanical in that with wet fine coal a nearly im- 
pervious blanket is placed over a portion of coal, so that normal ventilating 
currents fail to carry off the heat generated. 

Since the oxidation of coal is greater at increased temperatures, ex- 
traneous sources of heat must be kept from coal in storage. A very com- 
mon cause of spontaneous combustion is piling coal against a hot' boiler 
setting or around a hot steam pipe, or over a warm ventilating drain. 

The heating of small piles of coal (under 20 tons), such as stored by the 
domestic consumer, is so extremely rare as to be negligible. In larger 
piles, such as stored by apartment houses, schools, ami small factorie, 
care should be taken in storing coal, the pile inspected each day to detect 
evidences of heating . 

Where coal is put into storage by means of a chute, the tine coal accumu- 
lates under the chute, and if heating occurs it is apt to be at this point. 
If rods driven into the pile at this point appear warm to the hand when 
withdrawn, ti niches in the pile should be made through the warm coal, so 



30 EEPOETS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION, 

as t) allow it to cool. The storage of large amounts of coal can be under- 
taken if clue care is exercised in the selection and handling of the coal ; the 
details have already been well illustrated in publications of the Bureau 
of Mines and the University of Illinois. 

A further item to be considered is the cost of handling coal from 
storage. Breakage in rehandling must also be taken into account 
and arrangements must be made for providing necessary facilities 
and space for stored stocks. In spite of the additional costs involved, 
it is believed that storage of coal by the consumer at the point of ulti- 
mate consumption offers the best solution for the problem, since this 
would provide for the storing of smaller lots than if storage should 
be undertaken as an intermediate step. 

It must be remembered that in large operations, such as the steel 
and the coal industries, the cost and facility of transportation is 
vital in keeping clown the cost of the product, while to the ultimate 
consumer the costs which are added by the retailer and the middle- 
men are even greater factors. 

The Xatioms total freight-car supply was inadequate even before 
the war, and many mines were shut down for longer or shorter pe- 
riods, even without regard to seasonal movement, simply as a result of 
car shortage. 

"We believe that it is urgently necessary for the railroad companies 
to construct an additional number of all types of freight cars, in 
order that they ma} T be in a position to use the open-top cars exclu- 
sively for the purposes for which they were intended. 

The carriers of the country own nearly a million open-top cars 
and depend upon coal transportation for about 30 per cent of the 
total railroad traffic. On certain roads fuel transportation amounts 
to more than 50 per cent of the freight moved. The idleness of coal 
cars during the summer months, coupled with the excessive activity 
during the fall months, forces the railroads themselves to employ a 
large number of men and to provide for a surplus amount of rolling 
stock for winter months and an excessive amount of storage yards 
during the summer period when the cars are not in use. This in turn 
is an added burden upon the people of the United States through a 
general increase in traffic charges, as well as in the increased cost of 
coal. 

The recommendation is made that the Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission make the necessary provision, within its jurisdiction, to 
enable the railroads to provide a sufficient amount of rolling stock, 
motive power, and other facilities to meet the demands of industry. 
We feel that even if this additional construction should be reflected 
in rates it would be ultimately to the advantage of the consumer, as 
all industries suffer from intermittency in distribution, and the pub- 
lic bears the cost of this intermittency in the higher price of all com- 
modities, particularly coal. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 31 

This condition can only be rectified by the construction of sufficient 
freight cars of all types and of a sufficient number of locomotives to 
handle them. 

Conditions in this respect have become considerably worse during 
the last three years. Prior to the war freight-car construction of 
all types averaged about 125,000 cars per year. During the war 
period and since the armistice, although the need for cars increased, 
the total freight-car construction of all types has been but 250,000 
cars. This means an average annual production during the past 
three years of only about two-thirds of the previous yearly car 
output. 

During the war the existing car equipment was more strenuously 
utilized and repairs were consequently delayed, so that car mortality 
has been very heavy. This has been aggravated by the fact that 
cars allocated to foreign lines have received even worse treatment 
and have suffered still greater deterioration. 

The additional expansion of the coal industry during the war, 
by increasing the number of mines to be served by the railroads, has 
also aggravated the situation and has rendered the car equipment 
still more inadequate for the purpose of an effective coal distribution. 

The consequence is a serious shortage of all freight cars, resulting 
in many instances in the diversion of open-top cars to the movement 
of commodities of higher classification and rate — commodities which 
under ordinary conditions would move in box cars. The coal indus- 
try suffers from this diversion, as it diminishes still further the num- 
ber of cars available for the transportation of coal. 

At the same time it is realized that the carriers can not be expected 
to provide a sufficient number of coal cars to take care of the peak 
of the business during the months requiring maximum delivery, and 
to carry and store the extra equipment during the slack months. 

It is our belief that a more even distribution of the demand for 
coal throughout the year will be an important factor in overcoming 
this difficulty. 

The following suggestions have been made to the commission as 
to methods of overcoming car shortage, car irregularity, and seasonal 
operation : 

1. A difference in railway freight rates on coal to be gradu- 
ated through the summer months in districts other than those 
moving coal to the Great Lakes. This question, however, is 
properly within the province of the Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission to decide, and the commission has recommended that 
this subject be given due and careful consideration. 

2. A difference between summer and winter prices of coal, such 
difference to be fixed by the operators, but, in view of the fact 
that there are in the neighborhood of 7,000 operators in the 



32 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

bituminous coal industry, the commission believes, without pass- 
ing upon the legality of an agreement to reduce prices for the 
summer months, that this plan would be impracticable. 

Railroads have depended for a great many years and to a large 
extent on their accepted right to divert coal to their own use in case 
of shortage. This practice, by protecting the railroads against ac- 
tual disaster, has resulted in a great injury to the coal industry 
and to the individual consumer of coal. 

In its investigation the commission requested of and received from 
the United States Railroad Administration a statement covering, 
in outline, the former and present rules with respect to the assign- 
ment of cars to mines. 

In transmitting this statement the Railroad Administration points 
out that prewar rules covering car assignments, which tended to 
irregularity in our distribution, while not universally relied upon 
by carriers, were quite generally prevalent in the East, and were 
based upon a line of decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commis- 
sion, of which the leading case is that of Traer v. Chicago & Alton 
Railroad Co. et al. (13 100. p. 451) ; decision confirmed in the Su- 
preme court of the United States (Citation 215 U. S. -452. p. 479). 
The statement follows: 

The common understanding of the prewar rule was this; If a carrier 
on contract purchased the entire output of a mine, it was entitled pref- 
erentially to assign cars to that mine for loading that coal day by day. 

If the carrier purchased only a part of the output of a mine, it was en- 
titled preferentially to place cars for the protection of that loading at 
such a mine. In the working of this portion of the rule, if the number of 
cars of railroad fuel contracted for was in excess of the number of cars 
furnished that mine that day on the regular commercial distribution of 
coal cars, the mine was entitled to an arbitrary and preferential assign- 
ment of enough additional cars to enable it to load all the railroad fuel 
obligated to be shipped under the contract. 

If, on the other hand, the number of empty cars accruing to the mine 
en the regular commercial distribution was in excess of the number required 
to be shipped with the railroad fuel coal, then the mine was entitled to use 
the excess of empties above those necessary to load the railroad contract 
for the loading and shipment of commercial coal. 

During the investigations we found that the evils growing out of 
the preferential assignment of coal cars were fully recognized dur- 
ing the war and. as a result of a conference between the President, 
the Director General of Railroads, and the Fuel Administrator, the 
preferential assignment of cars was abolished. 

On May 24. 1918. the Fuel Administrator issued an order reducing 
the price of coal 10 cents per ton. in the following language (elimi- 
nating the usual preambles reciting the Fuel Administrator's au- 
thority) : 

Hereby orders and directs that all prices for bituminous coal f. o. b. 
mines in the coal-producing districts throughout the United States fixed by 
the said Executive order of the President, dated 21 August, 1917, and 
subsequent order of the United States Fuel Administrator and in effect 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 66 

fit 7 a. m. on the 25th day of May, 1918, shall he and the same hereby are 
reduced as to all shipments made after 7 a. m. on the 25th day of May, 
1918, by the sum of 10 cents for each net ton of 2,000 pounds. 

This order shall in no way affect the increase contained in the Executive 
order of the President, dated 27 October, 1917, adding the sum of 45 cents 
to the price fixed for bituminous coal under the terms and provisions set 
forth in said last-mentioned order. 

On May 25, 1918, the effective date of the 10-cent reduction order, 

the following ruling construing the order was issued: 

The effect of the order making a reduction of 10 cents per net ton from 
the mine price on all bituminous coal shipped after 7 a. m.. May 25, 1918, 
is that no one shall ask, demand, or receive, more than the applicable Gov- 
nient mine price thus reduced-, for any coal shipped after 7 a. m., May 
25, 1918, unless the same was shipped pursuant to a bona fide contract 
enforcible at law entered into prior to August 21, 1917. Contracts made 
between August 21, 1917, and December 29, 1917, do not authorize any 
exception to the above. Contracts made after December 29, 1917, must, 
under the provisions of the order dated December 24, 1917, contained in 
Publication No. 16, provide that all shipments thereunder shall be at the 
applicable Government mine price at date of shipment. 

The reason for the issuance of the above orders was that the rail- 
roads, by the employment of assigned cars, had been frequently able 
to negotiate their fuel purchases at more favorable prices than the 
commercial trade, and because of relinquishing their right to as- 
signed cars, the carriers faced the problem of having their fuel cost 
increased. 

As a concession to the railroads and in recognition of the loss that 
the deprivation of assigned cars entailed, Dr. Garfield issued his 
order of May 24, 1918. The principle of even car distribution was 
not effective, however, until approximately July 1, 1918. The delay 
was occasioned by the necessity for providing the necessary ma- 
chinery by which the railroads' fuel needs could be complemented 
when the car supply was insufficient to give them their full orders, 
and this was done by the Fuel Administrator's requisitioning coal in 
quantities needed by the railroads.. 

The statement of the Railroad Administration to this commission 
also states that : 

When the first uniform mine rating and car distribution rules were pub- 
lished September 10, 1918, the new rule abolishing the preferential assign- 
ment of cars for railroad fuel loading was carried in the uniform mine 
rating and car distribution rules by a provision that no such assignment 
for railroad fuel loading could be had except upon authority of the car- 
service section. This authority has never been granted since. The reason 
for this provision in the rule was to take care of emergencies if no other 
way of caring for the emergency could be found, whether to protect rail- 
road fuel loading or other essential loading, the point kept in mind being 
particularly United States Navy coal. 

It should be borne in mind that private cars — that is. cars other than 
railroad owned, have been handled upon a somewhat similar rule as that 
which, under the prewar practice governed the placing of assigned cars 
for railroad fuel loading. That is to say : The private cars were arbitrarily 
placed for the owner's loading. If on any day the number of private cars 
so placed did not equal the number of empty cars to which the mine was 
entitled under tlte commercial distribution, the mine was entitled to addi- 
tional railroad cars, to make up the deficiency. 



34 EEPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION". 

It is understood that paragraph 402 of the Cummins-Esch bill, 
approved February 28. 1920. places control of coal car distribution 
and assignment within the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce 
Commission in the following language : 

The term " ear service " in this aet shall include the use, control, supply, 
movement, distribution, exchange, interchange, and return of locomotives, 
cars, and other vehicles used in the transportation of property, including 
special types of equipment, and the supply of trains, by any carrier by 
railroad subject to this act. 

It shall be the duty of every carrier by railroad subject to this act to 
furnish safe and adequate car service and to establish, observe, and enforce 
just raid reasonable rules, regulations, and practices with respect to car 
service; and every unjust and unreasonable rule, regulation, and practice 
with respect to car service is prohibited and declared to be unlawful. 

It shall also be the duty of every carrier by railroad to make just and 
reasonable distribution of cars for transportation of coal among the coal 
mines served by it, whether located upon its line or lines or customarily 
dependent upon it for car supply. During any period when the supply of 
cars available for such service does not equal the requirements of such 
mines it shall be the duty of the carrier to maintain and apply just and 
reasonable ratings of such mines and to count each and every car furnished 
to or used by any such mine for transportation of coal against the mine. 
Failure or refusal so to do shall be unlawful, and in respect of each car 
not so counted shall be deemed a separate offense, and the carrier, receiver, 
or operating trustee so failing or refusing shall forfeit to the United States 
the sum of $100 for each offense, which may be recovered in a civil action 
brought by the United States. 

On March 4. 1920. the Interstate Commerce Commission issued a 
recommendation to the carriers that they continue in effect the uni- 
form rules of car supply established by the Railroad Administration. 

The issuance of such a recommendation by the Interstate Com- 
merce Commission raises an inferential question as to whether the 
maintenance of even car distribution is obligatory through the provi- 
sions in the Cummins-Esch bill, since the comment of the Interstate 
Commerce Commission is a recommendation only. 

Whether the Interstate Commerce Commission can make such a 
recommendation a mandate is a matter not within the province of the 
Bituminous Coal Commission to decide. 

It is. however, recommended to the Interstate Commerce Commis- 
sion and to State railway commissions within their several jurisdic- 
tions that, wherever lawful, rules and regulations be issued govern- 
ing and controlling car distribution between mines, to the end that 
no particular mine or mines may be permitted to obtain preferential 
car service through the use, by railway purchasing agents, of their 
power to obtain railway fuel at reduced prices through the guar- 
anteeing of car supply to favored mines or to operators with whom 
the railway may have fuel contracts. 

TTe make this recommendation because we find that the practice 
and abuse of car guarantees has militated against the interests of 
the general public by contributing to the irregularity of operation 
of mines not having such preferential contracts. At the same time, 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS GOAL COMMISSION. 35 

it has resulted in an unfair competitive advantage to those mines that 
secured such contracts. 

The commission also believes that railroad coal should be fur- 
nished by the various mines in proportion to their productive capac- 
ity with due regard to the quality of the coal. In furnishing to 
the railroads by the various mines, their quota of coal, it is recom- 
mended that the railroads be not required to place at each mine each 
day a sufficient number of cars for its proportionate amount of rail- 
way fuel, but that a plan be worked out permitting the railroads to 
place at each mine a number of cars sufficient to keep the mine in 
operation all day. This practice would reduce the cost of assem- 
bling railway fuel. 

In supplying to the railroads their quota of fuel the mines should 
avoid, except in emergencies, the use for that purpose of coal the 
properties of which make it more valuable for other uses. 

AGREEMENTS. 

We recognize that joint agreements resulting from conferences 
should be carried out fully and frankly by both parties, and that 
every proper assurance to this end should be given, since it is obvious 
that all attempts at amicable settlements of controversies will now 
and forever be futile unless the principle is once and for all estab- 
lished that agreements entered between employers and employees are 
binding upon both parties and are not to be considered as mere 
scraps of paper. For that reason we believe that the fulfillment of 
joint agreements entered into in any given district should also be 
guaranteed by the national officers of the United Mine Workers of 
America, and that it should be the duty of the officers of the national 
organization, as well as that of the officers of the district, to see that- 
all such agreements are carried out both in letter and in spirit — this 
particularly because we recognize that strikes in the coal industry are 
of serious moment to the whole people. 

The loss in the recent strike to the men, to the operators, and to 
the public can not be determined, as stoppage in production struck 
close to the roots of all industry and the welfare of the people. The 
loss to the men and to the public was an actual and complete loss; 
the loss to the operators may in part at least be passed on to the 
public. 

We understand thoroughly that the constructive work of the joint 
wage conference has been carried on for 30 years, and we assume that 
in the future as in the past most of the points of difference between 
the miners and operators will be adjusted by this body, but, we be- 
lieve that as the last resort some additional method should be devised 
under which strikes could not be called unless and until questions in 
controversy have been submitted to some form of tribunal, board, or 



36 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

commission in case the parties to the controversy and the joint wage 
conference have finally failed to settle the questions at issue. Such 
tribunal, board, or commission should immediately undertake the in- 
vestigation of the questions involved and should publish within GO 
days its finding of facts, if not unanimous, then in separate reports: 
and pending such report, no general strike should be called; pro- 
vided, however, that if no report is published within the designated 
period, the retarding of the strike shall end. 

The President's industrial conference has recommended the setting- 
up of machinery which will, if established, be available to handle 
such questions, and the plan outlined by this conference provides for 
the filing of agreements. 

Therefore, our conclusion is: 

That if and when, during the life of the agreement to be drawn by 
the joint wage conference, and to be predicated upon this report, such 
boards and tribunals as may be recommended by the President's in- 
dustrial conference are set up, they should be employed in connection 
with the investigation of questions of controversy between miners 
and operators, and. in the event that no such machinery is created, 
that a board of inquiry and adjustment for the bituminous coal in- 
dustry should be created and maintained under the joint agree- 
ment — this board to consist of a chairman and two other representa- 
tives of the public appointed by the President, two representatives of 
the mine workers selected by the mine workers, and two representa- 
tives of the mine owners selected by the mine owners, and that mat- 
ters of controversy between the bituminous coal miners and operators 
be submitted thereto, the expenses of such board to be borne by the 
operators and the miners equally. 

WAGES. 

We have decided to award as a substitute for the 14 per cent in- 
crease authorized by Dr. Garfield a wage increase that is consider- 
ably higher. In arriving at the present wage award, we were guided 
by the principle that every industry must support its workers in 
accordance with the American standard of living. 

With this principle in mind, we have considered the fact that the 
cost of living has advanced greatly from the prewar level. Estimates 
of this advance in the evidence before the commission have ranged 
from the 80 per cent, submitted by the operators, through the last 
official report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which was 83 per 
cent for October, 1919, and the 86 per cent claimed by the miners in 
their brief with which they stated they would be satisfied as a basis 
of the award, to an even higher figure provisionally estimated by 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics for December, 1919, on the basis of 
returns which are as yet incomplete. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 37 

In addition, we have taken into consideration increases in wages 
received by workers in other industries, as well as other factors herein 
set forth, including the consideration that every cent added to the 
tonnage rate on the annual production means an increase of five mil- 
lion dollars in the cost of producing coal, while each per cent of in- 
crease equals between seven and eight million dollars. 

We hope that there will be a decline in the cost of living in the 
next two years, but we realize that the miners have borne an increase 
above their advance of wages and consider the possible future decline 
in living costs as an offset for these losses. 

On the basis of $1,300,000,000 as the annual value of bituminous 
coal, the labor cost, which constitutes about 57 per cent of the total 
realization by the operators, is about $741,000,000. Twenty-seven per 
cent of this amount is approximately $200,000,000, which is the addi- 
tional sum that will be paid to the miners, as the result of our 
award, above what they were receiving on October 31, 1919. For it 
must be borne in mind that our award is based on the status prior 
to the application of Dr. Garfield's 14 per cent. The 14 per cent itself 
involved a cost of over $104,000,000 to which our award adds ap- 
proximately another $96,000,000. 

Wage advances granted to miners in the central competitive dis- 
trict between 1913 and October 31, 1919, average 43 per cent for 
tonnage workers and 76 per cent for day men. The derivation of 
these percentages is shown in detail in the table below. 

This table gives the coal tonnage of each of the four States 
constituting the central competitive field, and the percentage that 
the tonnage of each State is of the total. The table further shows, 
for machine workers, pick miners, and day men separately, the 
rates in 1913, the rates in 1919, and the percentage of increase in 
rates between these two dates. In arriving at the average increase 
for the four States, the increase for each is averaged, but in com- 
puting this average the States are weighted in proportion to their 
tonnage. For instance, Illinois produces nearly twice as much coal 
as Ohio; therefore, nearly twice as many tons of coal are paid for 
at the Illinois rate as at the Ohio rate, and in computing the average 
for the district, Illinois rates are given about twice as much weight 
as Ohio rates. The weights used for the four States are as follows : 

Western Pennsylvania 19. 8 

Ohio 22. 2 

Indiana 14. 5 

Illinois 48. 5 

As the result of this calculation, it has been determined that the 
average rate for machine work in 1913 was 48.56 cents and in 1919. 
before the application of the 14 per cent, 72.03 cents, while the 
average rate for pick mining was 63.19 cents in 1913 and 85.53 

171797°— 20 4 



38 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION, 



cents in 1919. In averaging the rates for pick and machine mining 
a further weighting was necessary. Of the total coal produced in 
the central competitive field 66 per cent is mined by machines, and 
31 per cent by hand; therefore, the machine-mining rate was given 
a weight of 66 and the pick-mining rate a weight of 34, resulting 
in an average rate for tonnage workers, pick and machine, in 1913 
of 53.53 cents and in 1919 of 76.62 cents. The increase between 
these two dates for tonnage workers was thus 23.09- cents, or 43.1 
per cent, while for day men it was 76.1 per cent. 

Central competitive field. 



State. 


Per cent 

of 
tonnage. 


Rates, 
1913. 


Rates, 
1919. 


Per cent 
increase 

over 1913. 


MACHINE. 


19.8 
22.2 
14.5 
43.5 


44.61 
47.00 
49.00 
51.00 


70.00 
70.00 
72.00 
74.00 


56. 9 


Ohio 


48.9 




46.9 




45.1 






Total 


100.0 


48. 56 


72.03 


48.3 






PICK. 


19.8 
22.2 
14.5 
43.5 


64. 64 

67. GO 
61.00 
61.00 


87.64 
87.64 
84.00 
84.00 


35.6 


Ohio 


29.6 




37.7 


Illinois 


37.7 






Total 


100.0 


63. 19 


85.53 


35.4 










53.53 


76.62 


J3.1 








DAY MEN. 


19.8 
22.2 
14.5 
43.5 


2.84 
2.84 
2.84 
2.S4 


5.00 
5.00 
5.00 
5.00 


76.1 


Ohio 


76.1 




76.1 




76.1 






Total 


100.0 


2. 84 


5.00 


76.1 







Tonnage in millions: Western Pennsylvania, 41; Ohio. 46: Indiana, 30; Illinois, 90; total, 207. 



The average wage advance awarded by us amounts to an increase 
over rates prevailing before October 31. 1919, of 27 per cent. 

We direct that this increase be apportioned between the dif- 
ferent groups of workers and classes of work along the following 
lines : That tonnage rates, pick and machine, be increased by 21 cent- ; 
that rates for all yardage, dead work, narrow work, and room turn- 
ing be advanced 20 per cent; and that the compensation of day men 
also be advanced 20 per cent. All these advances to apply to the rates 
prevailing on October 31, 1919. 

On the basis of this adjustment tonnage workers will receive an 
average increase over 1919 of 31 per cent, while day men whose wages 
were advanced disproportionately under the Washington agreement- 
will receive an average increase of 20 per cent. It will be noted that 
the increase to the day men of 20 per cent amounts to a total increase 
since 1913 of 111 per cent. This figure is much in excess of the 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 39 

highest estimates of the advance in living costs. It should be under- 
stood that at the time the advance was given to the mine workers 
under date of October 6, 1917, the advance given to the day labor 
was at a rate considerably in excess of the advance given to the 
tonnage workers. In fixing this difference one of the principal 
factors considered was the claim that day labor had prior thereto not 
been paid at a rate proportionate to that received by tonnage workers. 
We, therefore, considered that a part of the advance allowed 
day labor in 1917 should not be considered in computing advances 
in wages based on increased living costs. It has been difficult to 
determine just what part of the excess advance to day labor in 1917 
was due to the inequality as between tonnage and day workers and 
what part was due to efforts to induce this type of men to remain 
in the industry at a time when the war emergency was offering 
higher inducements in other industries. We feel, however, that, in 
allowing the day men an advance which brings their total increase 
since 1913 to 111 per cent, as against 88 per cent for tonnage workers, 
the method we have used is fair. 

Whether all or any part of this amount will be passed on by the 
operators to the public depends on competitive conditions, but we 
estimate that the carrying out of other provisions of our findings will 
save the general public more than the cost of the additional wages. 

It is to be expected that when all Government regulations are with- 
drawn and a competitive market for coal is reestablished, the over- 
expansion of the industry will not permit the operators to add to the 
price of coal all the increased compensation granted to the miners. 

A table is shown below based on the returns made by coal operators 
to the Bureau of Internal Revenue for the year 1918. In this table 
are included returns from 1,551 operators, representing about one- 
third of the coal tonnage produced in 1918. We have the assurance 
of the United States Geological Survey that the relative figures 
would not be greatly different if all the operators were included in the 
returns. Of the 1,551 companies 337, or 22 per cent, reported net 
losses in 1918, and 168 companies, or 11 per cent, reported net in- 
comes of less than 5 per cent on invested capital. Two charts illus- 
trating this table are also presented. 

It is to be expected that companies which were not able to operate 
profitably in 1918, when the demand for coal was unlimited, will be 
unable to remain in business in normal times, and that many of the 
companies making net returns of only 5 per cent during that banner 
year will also decide to discontinue operations under competitive 
conditions. 

The two groups of companies reporting net losses and incomes of 
less than 5 per cent constitute about one-third of those for which 
returns are available, but represent only about one-seventh of the 



40 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

total invested capital and about one-ninth of the total tonnage. It is 
believed that the Nation's coal requirements can ordinarily be 
by the operation of those collieries alone which have advantages re- 
sulting in lower production costs and consequent larger returns on in- 
vented capital. 

The figures show that 30 per cent of the operators represented, 
having about 62 per cent of the total invested capital and producing 
t 48 per cent of the total tonnage, made net incomes of between 
5 and 25 per cent on their investment, while other companies, still 
r fortunately situated, made even higher returns. The corn- 
panic-, however, that showed net incomes of over 25 per cent repre- 
in the aggregate le>s than one-fourth of the total investment and 
two-fifths of the tonnage, while the companies making returns of 100 

»ent or more represent a total investment of only about si.00 1 
and a total tonnage of about six millions. 

The average returns of all the reporting companies were 15.86 per 
cent on the investment before payment of the income and ex 
profits taxes and 9.72 per cent after deducting the taxes. 

The companies reporting very high rates of return upon investment 
are all small concerns with investments of only a few thousand dol- 
lars, whose net income represents to a large extent the earnings of the 
owners for their own labor and management. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 



41 



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42 



KEPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 



INVESTED CAPITAL OF 155T COAL COMPANIES 

BY RATES OF 

NET INCOME OR LOSS, 1918 


CAPITAL 
INVESTED 

IN THOUSANDS 

CF DOLLARS 


CAPITAL INVESTED 
WITH 
LOSSES 


INVESTED CAPITAL WITH 
NET INCOMES 


CAPITAL 
INVESTED 

IN THOUSANDS 
OF DOLLARS 


95.000 

so.ooo 

85.000 
80.000 
75,000 
70,000 
6 5,000 
60.000 
55,000 
50.000 
45,000 
40O00 
35.000 
30,000 
25.000 






95.000 
90.00O 
85.000 
80,000 
75.000 
70.000 
65.000 
60.000 
55.000 
5O.00G 
45.0 CO 
40.OO0 
3 5,000 
30.000 
25,000 
20,000 
15.000 
10.000 
5,000 

4.O0O 
3.000 
2.000 
1.000 
















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INVESTED LOSSES 
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5 f lO 1 15 ] 20| 


2O|25|3O|4O|5O[75|l00|l50|20O|300|400l500 PERCENT 

TO 1 TO TO 1 TO 1 TO | TO TO TO TO TO TO AND ij E t INCOME 

25|30|40l50l75!lOO|l50|200|300|400;500|ovER on 

NET INCOMES '™j*£> 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 



43 



TONNAGE OF 1551 v COAL COMPANIES 

» BY RATES OF „' 

NET INCOME OR LOSS, 1918 



THOUSANDS TONNAGE 

OF WITH*- 

T0NS LOSSES 



TONNAGE 
-WITH^- 
NET INCOMES 



THOUSAND.. 
OF 
TONS j 



29.000 

28.000 

2 7.000 

26.000 

25.000 

2 4.OQ0 

2 3.000 

2 2.000 

21.000 

2 0.0 OO 

19.000 

18.000 

1 7.000 

16.000 

15.0O0 

14.000 

13000 

1 2.000 

It.OOO 

10.000 

9.000 

8.000 

7.000 

6.000 

5,000 

4.0 OO 

3.0 OO 

2.000 

I.OOO 



1 



..III Nil 

MINIMI 
I II I III 1 1 
MINIMI 

iiiii i 



B1BHBB8HBBIB, 



29,000 

28.000 

27.000 

26.000 

25,000 

24.000 

2 3,000 

22.000 

21.000 

20,000 

19000 

18.000 

17.000 

16.000 

15.000 

14,000 

13.000 

12.000 

11.000 

10.000 

9.0 OO 

8.O0O 

7.000 

6.0 OO 

5,0 00 

4,000 

3.00C 

2.000 

1.000 



PERCENT 25 20 15 MO 5 

LOSS AND TO | TO TO TO 

.NvlsTED^i^l^ISilol 
r.ADiT&i LUSatb 



O 5 

TO TO 

5 lol 



2O|25|3O|4O|5O|75h00;i50|200]300[400i500 PER CENT 

TO 

I2S 



TO TO TO TO TO TO 
I30I40I5OI75IIOOII5O 

NET INCOMES 



TO TO 

200 300 



400:500! OVER 



|ano NET INCOME 



INVESTED 
CAPITAL 



44 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

We believe that the law of supply and demand will result in a 
competition for markets and will not permit the operators to shift 
all the wage advance to the public. The bulk line, which during the 
war was placed by governmental authority high enough to stimulate 
maximum production, will move lower in response to economic forces 
when normal conditions are reestablished and the price will be pre- 
vented from rising beyond a point sufficient to assure the Nation of 
its coal requirements. This forecast is based on the assumption 
that no combination to maintain prices can be formed among the 
operators. Such a combination besides being illegal seems quite 
impracticable in view of the 7.000 companies involved located as 
they are in some 26 or 27 coal-producing States. 

We have evidence that the share of labor in the total price paid by 
the public for coal was greater in 1916 and in 1917 than in 1918 for 
most of the important producing districts. Hence the advance 
granted to labor by this commission will tend to reestablish the pre- 
war distribution of each dollar paid for coal as between capital and 
labor. 

The increase will thus in no way be a further step in the circular 
ladder of more wages — higher prices — increase in the cost of living- 
still more wages. Even if it were established that this sequence of 
events obtains throughout industry, including coal mining, yet the 
question would remain whether it is fair to single out one group of 
workers as the victims of an attempt to check the operation of the 
vicious circle. 

In the case of the coal industry conditions are such, as a result of 
overexpansion, that higher labor costs will tend to force the read- 
justment under which the national needs will be met from more 
economically operated properties. This readjustment will be to the 
advantage of the coal-mining industry as a whole, and is urgently 
required in the interests of national economy under the present cir- 
cumstances. 

It is the true method of stabilizing the coal industry and providing 
for the more continuous employment of the capital and labor in- 
volved. 

The contention of the operators has been that the miners do not 
make full use of the opportunities for labor afforded them and that 
those of the miners who work at least three- fourths of the available 
time earn sufficient wages. In support of this contention the opera- 
tors submitted figures collected from a representative number of 
mines showing the number of men working each specified number of 
days, with their daily and monthly wages. 

We realize that a certain proportion of time is lost by the miners 
voluntarily. At the same time, we find that the figures submitted 
by the operators do not afford a measure of the amount of time so 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 45 

lost by the miners, for the reason that these figures make no allow- 
ance for the turnover. In these tabulations every man who worked 
at a mine at any time during the month is counted on the same basis 
as one who was on the roll every day the mine was in operation, re- 
gardless of the fact that many miners may have obtained employ- 
ment on the last day of the month or been discharged at the end of 
the first day or moved to another mine in the middle of the month 
or died some time during the period. 

A man who worked 13 days out of a possible 26 at 1 mine and IB 
at another would be counted in these figures as 2 men with an aggre- 
gate voluntary absenteeism of 26 days, or 50 per cent of the 52 
working-days for the 2 mines. 

A further defect in these figures is that the number of days that 
a mine is in operation is not necessarily the number of days that all 
the miners on the pay roll have an opportunity of employment. 
Parts of the mine may have been in bad condition or closed for 
repairs, or the coal in the working places may not have been loaded 
out, making it impossible to mine more coal until the place is cleared, 
or the places may not have been undercut, making it impossible to 
load coal until this w T as done. Loss of time caused by these condi- 
tions is properly chargeable to the industry rather than to the miners. 

But even after allowance has been made for all the factors entering 
into the problem a margin remains between the number of days that 
the miners actually work and the number when they have an oppor- 
tunity to work. A fair interpretation of this margin is that an 
irregular industry breeds irregular habits among the workers. When 
the men are not accustomed to going to work regularly every morn- 
ing the incentive for regularity becomes less potent and a certain 
amount of absenteeism inevitably results. This is the psychological 
factor of irregularity, and it may be expected that it will disappear 
in large measure as the industry becomes more stable. 

THE SIX-HOUR DAY AND THE FIVE-DAY WEEK. 

We have gone fully into the mine workers' demand for a six- 
hour day and a five-day week, equivalent to a reduction of working 
hours from 48 to 30 per week. 

In considering this demand, we were influenced in arriving at 
our decision by the fact that steady work on the part of all worker- 
is urgently required by the entire world during the period of re- 
construction and reorganization when the enormous destruction and 
disorganization wrought by the World War in all countries and 
affecting all industries must be counteracted by unusual industry 
and perseverance. To make any restriction affecting the output 
would be an economic crime. 



46 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

It is claimed by the miners on the basis of experience after pre- 
vious reductions of hours of labor and of the effects of reduction 
of hours in other countries, that curtailment of working time would 
not reduce the output in anything like a corresponding proportion. 
It is our view that arguments based on the effects of a reduction 
from 10 to 8 hours can hardly apply to a reduction from 8 to G 
hours, or from 8 to 7 hours. Production in countries where there 
has been a reduction in hours is less than before the hours were 
reduced. We feel that our responsibility to the Nation will not 
permit us to make an award that would curtail appreciably the 
productivity of the workers in a basic industry. 

Each coal company endeavors to have enough men on its rolls to 
carry it over the peak of the rush season; the operators want coal 
mined while there is a demand, each company realizing that, if it is 
unable to satisfy its customers, they will turn to other producers and 
the sale will be permanently lost. A labor supply, sufficient for the 
needs of the rush season, is excessive during the rest of the year, part- 
time employment results, and the Nation will ultimately have to pay 
in its fuel bills the cost of maintaining this larger army of only par- 
tially employed workers. 

We are convinced that a reduction in hours of labor would only 
make a bad situation worse, that the miners' demand on this point 
is clearly uneconomic, and that to grant it would be detrimental to 
their own interests. 

Another result that would flow from a reduction in hours, with the 
wages that it is proposed should be paid, will be to increase the num- 
ber of men who will seek employment at the mines on account of the 
shorter hours and the full pay, and this, in turn, will result later in 
further demands for the shortening of hours in order to give employ- 
ment to the men who would thus be added to an industry that is 
already overmanned. We can not, in view of our responsibilities, 
agree to a demand that would lead to such disastrous results. At the 
same time, we hope to accomplish something in the direction of the 
stabilization of the industry by means of constructive proposals dis- 
cussed elsewhere in this report. 

While we are in full sympathy with the miners in their aspiration 
for a fuller life, we can not help but feel that eight hours a day is 
not too much to work under present circumstances. 

The contention that the extra hazardous nature of the mining 
industry makes it desirable to reduce the risks run by the miners 
by reducing the time during which they are exposed to this risk is 
inconsistent with the claim that the miners wish to work the same 
number of hours per year as they are working now, provided the 
hours are more evenly distributed through the year, for if they work 
as many hours they will be exposed to the same risks. We also have 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 47 

considered the fact that contractual hours of labor apply only to 
clay workers, and that more than 60 per cent of the miners work on 
a tonnage basis. To reduce the number of earning hours during 
the year, particularly when one of the chief complaints of the miners 
is that they do not have sufficient hours of work and consequently 
can not earn adequate wages, would clearly not be consistent with 
the commission's conception of its duty. 

Therefore, our conclusion is that, under all the conditions, the 
eight-hour day should be maintained. 

CAMPS AND HOUSING. 

"We believe that generally there has been marked progress in the 
larger mining centers of the country toward improving living con- 
ditions and community life. Yet, on the other hand, in isolated 
mining camps where many miners are employed this has not taken 
place. W 7 e wish to commend the mining companies that have recog- 
nized the advantages accruing through the establishment of better 
homes and such social conditions as will enable the miner to acquire 
a home of his own. If there is to be full cooperation and a proper 
relation between cmpkwer and employee, it can only be brought 
about if the operator takes an enlightened and humane attitude. 

We therefore recommend to the operators that they endeavor to 
plan their operations in such a way that this ideal may be realized, 
giving due consideration to the physical conditions involved. Wh re 
miners' homes are owned by the operators and rented to the miners 
there is even greater need for wise foresight on the operator's part ; 
and while it is felt that there has been considerable improvement in 
the type constructed in late years for miners' homes — and this is true 
whether they are owned by the mine workers or by the operators and 
rented to the miners — we also recognize that there are operations 
where the old type of construction still obtains and where the condi- 
tions are not satisfactory or sanitary. 

We believe the mine workers are entitled to homes of a modern 
type, with good sanitation, and that this is essential to maintain the 
proper standard of American living. We recognize that the opera- 
tors have in many instances been limited in the type of home they 
could construct, sometimes by the length of the expected life of the 
operation and at other times by the joint-agreement limitation on 
the rentals to be paid. We therefore recommend that when houses 
arc to be constructed by operators houses of a modern type, with 
good sanitation, shall be built, the type of house to be based on the 
probable life of the mine; that rentals shall be based on the actual 
investment in houses and land; that the return should include no 
profit to the operator; and that the rentals should be only sufficient 



48 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

to maintain the structures in good condition, provide for the amorti- 
zation of the investment cost and proper insurance, and return not to 
exceed 6 per cent on the invested capital while such sum is invested. 
Where the expected life of the operation exceeds 25 years the 
period of amortization shall be 25 years, but in no other event shall 
the amortization period be less than the expected life of the property. 

INTRODUCTION OF LABOR-SAVING DEVICES AND MACHINERY. 

The United Mine Workers, through their president, have stated 
their position on the introduction of machinery and other mechani- 
cal devices that tend to increase production and efficiency in the 
mining industry. The statement fully accepts in principle the de- 
sirability of the introduction of such machinery and devices. 

The statistics before the commission show that 57 per cent of the 
country's total production of bituminous coal is machine mined. It 
is recognized by the commission that the introduction of machinery 
and devices can be prevented b} T the mine workers by failure to 
agree upon the rates, terms, and conditions under which the ma- 
chinery and devices are to be used. We recommend that the good 
offices of the miners' international organization be exercised to main- 
tain the principle that has been so fully presented in behalf of the 
mine workers. 

Pending the joint district agreement between the miners and op- 
erators covering a fair schedule of rates for piecework or tonnage 
operation of any new device or machinery, the right of the operator 
to introduce and operate any such new device or machinery shall 
not be questioned, and his selection of such men as he may desire 
to conduct tests with or operate such device or machinery shall not 
be in any way interfered with or obstructed by the miners or their 
representatives, provided the wages offered are at least equal to the 
established scale rates for similar labor. 

The operator shall be privileged to pay in excess of the established 
scale rates of pay without such excess pay being considered as estab- 
lishing a permanent condition for the operation of said device or 
machine. 

After the device or machine shall have passed the experimental 
stage and is in shape to be introduced as a regular component part of 
the production of coal, then for the purpose of determining a per- 
manent scale of rates (such rates to continue until the joint scale con- 
ference above referred to fixes a scale) for operating such device or 
machine the mine workers may have a representative present for a 
reasonable time to witness its operation, after which a schedule of 
rates shall be determined by mutual agreement, which scale shall be 
concluded Avithin CO days after a fair test has been made. 



KEPOKTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 49 

The test will disclose the labor-saving in the cost of producing 
coal, out of which labor-saving the mine worker shall receive the 
equivalent of the contract rates for the class of work displaced, plus 
a fair proportion of the labor-savings effected. 

In like manner new or untried systems of mining, for instance, 
long wall, retreating long wall, or the panel system, may be intro- 
duced by the operator for the purpose of conservation, increasing 
production, the lessening of cost, or, in the interest of safety, without 
his right to make such change being abridged; provided, however, 
that for this class of work the mine worker shall in the same manner 
receive the equivalent of the contract rates for the class of work dis- 
placed, plus a fair proportion of the labor-savings effected. 

DISCOUNTING EMPLOYEES' WAGES. 

The mine workers presented to the commission statements showing 
that a serious evil exists in the industry in certain localities, where 
the operators exact discounts upon advances of pay made between 
pay days. 

We recommend that the making of advances be discouraged in 
every way; and if for any good reason an advance is asked and 
made, it shall be done without discount, either directly or indirectly. 

APPLICATION OF THE 14 PEE CENT WAGE INCREASE. 

We believe that while in certain districts the application of the 
14 per cent has been made in such a manner that the miners have 
not received the equivalent of the 11 cents flat rate as applied in the 
central competitive field, yet, in view of the application made in 
this award of the rates, Ave feel that any injury clone the miners 
who failed to receive the 11 cents between November 1 and April 1 
will be equalized under the application herein made of the new 
rates set up. 

POWDER. 

We are of the opinion that there should be no attempt on the 
part of the employer to profit by the handling of any explosives sold 
to his employees, and believe that the future policy should be that 
explosives be furnished the miner at cost, including the cost of han- 
dling, transportation, and insurance. 

PRICE OF HOUSE COAL TO THE EMPLOYEES AT THE MINE. 

It is our belief that the companies should not make any profit on 
the coal supplied to the miners. On the other hand, we feel that the 
miners do not expect coal at less than cost, a large part of which is 
their own wages, and that an increase in the price of coal commen- 



50 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

surate with the increase in the miners' compensation will be cheer- 
fully met by the men. 

For the term of the contract, the price at which house coal shall 
be furnished the mine workers at the tipple shall be determined by 
adding to the price to the miners in effect on October 31, 1919. the 
average percentage allowed as an increase on the wage scale, to 
wit. 27 per cent. When coal is delivered to the miners' houses by the 
operator, the actual cost of delivery shall be added. 

CAR PUSHING. 

We find that pushing of cars, loaded or empty, by the mine 
workers is natural to the industry and is an integral part of the 
day's work. Through the negotiations of 30 years this work, where 
practiced, has been paid for in general in the tonnage rates. 

The principle of car pushing, we believe, is not the burning ques- 
tion, but rather the abuse that has grown up is the subject of the 
miners' demand for relief. We are unable to take a complete view 
of the car-pushing question, covering as it does, the industry in all 
mining fields. We believe, however, that the abolition of car push- 
ing would ruin financially several great coal-producing sections. 

We recognize the tendency to increase the size and the weight of 
cars and equipment, especially in the thick seams of coal, so that it 
becomes an abuse, and we feel that the complaint is not without 
foundation. We appreciate, however, the difficulty of fixing a defi- 
nite limit of weight on cars pushed because of the varying conditions 
in mining in the different fields and because of the highly com- 
petitive relations between the thick and thin seam producing dis- 
tricts. We, therefore, earnestly recommend to operators that the 
alleviation of abuses in car pushing, where they exist, be the subject 
of careful consideration by them in order that ameliorating prac- 
tices may be introduced. 

BLACKSMITHING. 

We are of the opinion that in some instances the miners have been 
charged excessive prices for blacksmithing. and we find that for the 
purpose of the new agreement the price charged the miners shall be 
on the basis of existing contracts; provided, however, that the maxi- 
mum charge shall not exceed three-fourths of 1 per cent of the miners' 
gross earnings. 

SPECIAL CASES. 

The testimony before this commission having shown conclusively 
that there exist in certain sections of this country problems that should 
be given consideration outside of the province of this commission, we 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 51 

make special awards in regard to the central competitive field, north- 
ern Illinois, Assumption and Decatur, 111., and Washington; also spe- 
cial recommendations in regard to Kanawha, Paint Creek, and Cabin 
Creek, in West Virginia, and in regard to Alabama, Tennessee, east- 
ern Kentucky, and Maryland. 

CENTRAL COMPETITIVE FIELD. 

The mine workers made a demand for changes in several differ- 
entials, such as the differential between machine and pick mining, 
thick and thin seam, and other, forms of differentials. Inasmuch as 
the questions submitted are technical and complex in their nature, 
their determination may be expected to affect materially competitive 
relations as between operators, and the relative earnings as between 
mine workers. As the commission's time and staff were limited, we 
believe that it would be manifestly unfair to undertake a determina- 
tion of these questions, since they will require months of careful study 
by experienced technical experts. We therefore provide for the setting 
up of a commission with a proper staff of technically trained men, to 
make a complete study of the questions involved, the award of such 
commission to become part of the wage agreements in the districts 
affected, as hereinafter provided. 

We also deem it desirable that said commission investigate the ad- 
visability of discontinuing the check-off system of collecting dues for 
the Unitecl Mine Workers of America. 

We therefore direct that a commission be selected by the scale com- 
mittees of miners and operators, respectively, in the central competi- 
tive field, which shall study the differentials hereinafter set forth as 
to working conditions, wage earnings, production costs, and competi- 
tive relations, as well as the check-off system of collecting clues for the 
United Mine Workers of America. 

The commission shall consider: 

1. The differential between pick and machine mining rates in In- 
diana. 

2. The thick and thin vein differential in the Pittsburgh district. 

3. The seven-cent machine differential in Illinois. 

4. The differential in tonnage rates in southern Illinois. 

5. The discontinuance of the check-off system of collecting dues 
for the United Mine Workers of America. 

We furthermore recommend that this commission shall be com- 
posed of eight members, one mine worker and one operator from each 
district in the central competitive field; also that the expense of this 
commission shall be borne by the mine workers and operators af- 
fected, each paying one-half; and that the commission so constituted 



52 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

shall make a report to the regular joint conference of the central 
competitive field, to be held at the expiration of the agreements based 
upon this award. 

NORTHERN ILLINOIS. 

We direct that the mine workers of district No. 12. Illinois, and 
the Illinois Coal Producers' Association, respectively, shall each 
select two members of a joint commission to study the situation in 
northern Illinois. Assumption. 111., and Decatur. 111., as to wage 
rates, earnings, working conditions, production costs, and competi- 
tive relations, which commission shall report its findings to the joint 
conference of the Illinois mine workers and operators, following the 
expiration of the agreement for which this award constitutes a I 

The expenses of this commission shall be borne by the mine workers 
and operators affected, each paying one-half. 

WASHINGTON. 

We direct that the United Mine Workers of District Xo. 10. Wash- 
ington, and the Washington Coal Producers' Association, respec- 
tively, shall each select two members of a commission and the four 
members so selected shall appoint an experienced mining engineer, 
who shall also be a member of the commission. This commission 
shall within 30 days from appointment investigate and report to the 
joint conference of mine workers and operators of the State of 
Washington the effect of the application of the awards herein set 
forth to the agreements and wage schedules in that State. In tho 
meantime the awards herein shall not apply in Washington. 

The expenses of this commission shall be borne by the mine work- 
ers and operators affected, each paying one-half. 

KANAWHA. PAINT CREEK. AND CABIN CREEK. W. VA. 

The miners and operators, having agreed in joint conference to 
the establishment of a joint commission for the purpose of making 
an investigation within the Kanawha. Paint Creek, and Cabin Creek 
field- for the possible correction of inequalities and to bring about a 
more uniform condition, have not had an opportunity to present 
their report to the joint conference. As both the operators and the 
miners have asked that the findings of this commission be written 
into the new joint agreement, which is to be predicated on this report. 
we recommend that the mine workers and operators compose their 
differences in harmony with the report of the joint commission re- 
ferred to. and that the findings of that commission be written into 
the agreement* 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 53 

ALABAMA, TENNESSEE, EASTERN KENTUCKY, AND MARYLAND. 

The representatives of the miners from Alabama, Tennessee, 
eastern Kentucky, and Maryland filed briefs citing the wages and 
conditions of employment, but, as the records show, none of the 
operators from these districts appeared before the commission, but 
they filed letters with the commission to the effect that they have 
no joint relations with the mine workers of their districts. 

In each of these districts during the war certain wage increases 
were adopted and put into effect by the United States Fuel Adminis- 
tration and tribunals were set up for the adjustment of the usual 
complaints common to mining. These tribunals included a perma- 
nent umpire in each district, and in order that justice may be done to 
fill and the mine workers be given the right to enjoy the correspond- 
ing advantages that the award given the mine workers elsewhere 
may reflect we would recommend that the operators arrange to meet 
with representatives of the miners of these districts and to put into 
effect the award herein, to the end that industrial peace and tran- 
quillity may prevail. 

THE AW ABB. 

We hereby award that all the terms, conditions, and provisions, 
mining rates, and wage schedules in effect on October 31, 1919, in 
what is known as the Washington agreement, dated October 6, 1917, 
and the agreements preceding the Washington agreement, to which 
the Vf ashington agreement is supplemental and upon which it is 
predicated, applying to the central competitive field and the out- 
lying districts, shall be written into the agreement for which these 
findings constitute a basis, except as the same may be modified by 
the awards and recommendations hereinafter set forth. 

As a modification of the terms of the agreements above recited, we 
award : 

A. That the following specific aAvards shall constitute the basis 
upon which wage agreements in all districts shall be predicated. 
They are not subject to negotiations, but shall be written into all 
agreements and schedules of wages. 

B. That the 14 per cent average increase in wages fixed by the 
United States Fuel Administration shall be eliminated on March 
31, 1920, and in lieu thereof the wage scale of the Washington agree- 
ment, referred to, shall be increased as set forth herein. 

C. That the agreement for which this award constitutes a basis 
.shall lake effect April 1, 1920, and continue in effect up to and 
including March 31, 1922. 

D. That the mining prices for mining mine-run coal, pick and 
machine, shall be advanced 24 cents per ton. 

171797^—20 5 



54 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

E. That in the block-coal field of Indiana, and in other localities 
that are still on the screened-coal base, the usual methods of applying 
the tonnage rates shall continue. This also has its application to 
districts that have a joint understanding in applying wage increases 
to low coal. 

F. That all day labor and monthly men (the advance to monthly 
men to be based on an average of the usual number of days he is 
required to work in a month), except trappers and other boys, be 
advanced $1 per day. Trappers and boys receiving less than men's 
wages to be advanced 53 cents per clay. 

G. That all yardage, dead work, and room turning be advanced 
20 per cent: Provided, however, That nothing shall prevent the rep- 
resentatives of the miners and operators in any district, in joint 
conference, from taking the flat equivalent of the 20 per cent and 
applying it to yardage, dead work, and room turning, if by so doing 
they will make for uniformity and maintain the differentials. Fail- 
ing, however, to agree to such application, then the 20 per cent shall 
be applied on the existing rates, effective October 31, 1919. 

H. That the decisions, which hereinbefore appear in the body of 
this report and which are hereinafter summarized, are to be in- 
corporated, according to the letter and spirit of the said decisions, 
in the agreements to be drawn between the miners and operators; 
and that the said decisions shall constitute the basis upon which the 
wage agreements in all districts shall be predicated. They are not 
subject to negotiations, but shall be written into all agreements and 
schedules of wages. However, the several joint-scale committees 
may, by mutual agreement, make such proper adjustment of local 
conditions as may come within the terms and scope of this award, 
and of the Washington agreement, dated October 6, 1917, and of 
the agreements preceding the Washington agreement, to which the 
Washington agreement is supplemental, as more fully set forth in 
clause No. 6 of the joint agreement of the 'central competitive field, 
dated March 9, 1916. These decisions are summarized as follows: 

1. That the fulfillment of the agreement to be entered into 
shall be guaranteed by the international union, and the fulfill- 
ment of joint agreements entered into in any district shall also 
be guaranteed by the officers of the international organization, 
as well as by the officers of the district, and it shall be their duty 
to see that all such agreements are carried out both in the letter 
and in the spirit. 

2. That the eight-hour day in effect on October 31, 1919, in 
what is known as the Washington agreement, dated October 6, 
1917, and the agreements preceding the Washington agreement, 
to which the Washington agreement is supplemental, applying in 
the central competitive field and outlying districts, shall be 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 55 

written into the agreements for which these findings constitute a 
basis. 

3. That the pushing of cars, loaded or empty, by the mine 
workers is natural to the industry and is an integral part of the 
day's work, and that through the negotiations of 30 years this 
work, where practiced, has been paid for in general in the ton- 
nage rates. 

4. That pending the joint district agreement between the 
miners and operators covering a fair schedule of rates for piece- 
work or tonnage operation of any new device or machinery, the 
right of the operator to introduce and operate any such new 
device or machinery shall not be questioned, and his selection of 
such men as he may desire to conduct tests with or operate such 
device or machinery shall not be in any way interfered with or 
obstructed by the miners or their representatives, provided the 
wages offered are at least equal to the established scale rates for 
similar labor. 

The operator shall be privileged to pay in excess of the estab- 
lished scale rates of pay without such excess pay being consid- 
ered as establishing a permanent condition for the operation of 
said device or machine. 

After the device or machine shall have passed the experimental 
stage and is in shape to be introduced as a regular component 
part of the production of coal, then for the purpose of deter- 
mining a permanent scale of rates (such rates to continue until 
the joint scale conference above referred to fixes a scale) for 
operating such device or machine the mine workers may have a 
representative present for a reasonable time to witness its opera- 
tion, after which a schedule of rates shall be determined by 
mutual agreement, which scale shall be concluded within 60 days 
after a fair test has been made. 

The test will disclose the labor-saving in the cost of producing 
coal, out of which labor-saving the mine worker shall receive 
the equivalent of the contract rates for the class of work dis- 
placed, plus a fair proportion of the labor-saving effected. 

In like manner new or untired sj^stems of mining; for in- 
stance, long wall, retreating long wall, or the panel system may 
be introduced by the operator for the purpose of conservation, 
increasing production, the lessening of cost, or in the interest 
of safety without his right to make such change being abridged : 
Provided, however, That for this class of work the mine worker 
shall in the same manner receive the equivalent of the contract 
rates for the class of work displaced, plus a fair proportion of 
the labor-saving effected. 

5. That a commission be selected by the scale committee of 
miners and operators in the central competitive field, respec- 
tively, which shall study the differentials hereinafter set forth 
as to working conditions, wage earnings, production costs, and 
competitive relations, as well as the check-off system of col- 
lecting dues for the United Mine Workers of America, the award 
of such comission to become part of the wage agreements in the 
districts affected. 



56 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

The commission shall consider: 

a. The differential between pick and machine mining 
rates in Indiana. 

b. The thick and thin vein differential in the Pittsburgh 
district. 

c. The seven-cent machine differential in Illinois. 

d. The differential in tonnage rates in southern Illinois. 

e. The discontinuance of the check-off system of collect- 
ing clues for the United Mine Workers of America. 

We furthermore recommend that this commission shall be 
composed of eight members, one mine worker and one operator 
from each district in the central competitive field ; also that the 
expense of this commission shall be borne by the mine workers 
and operators affected, each paying one-half; and that the com- 
mission so constituted shall make a report to the regular joint 
conference of the central competitive field, to be held at the ex- 
piration of the agreements based upon this award. 

6. That if and when, during the life of the agreement to be 
drawn by the joint wage conference (which agreement is to be 
predicated upon this report), such boards and tribunals as 
recommended by the President's industrial conference are set 
up, they shall be employed in connection with the investigation 
of questions of controversy between miners and operators : Pro- 
vided, however, That in the event that no such machinery is 
created, that a board of inquiry and adjustment for the bi- 
tuminous coal industry shall be created and maintained under 
the said joint agreement— this board to consist of a chairman 
and two other representatives appointed by the President; two 
representatives of the mine workers selected by the mine 
workers ; and two representatives of the mine operators selected 
by the mine operators — and that matters in controversy between 
the bituminous coal miners and operators be submitted thereto; 
that the expense of such board be borne by the mine workers 
and operators equally; and that such tribunal, board, or com- 
mission shall immediately undertake the investigation of the 
questions in controversy, and shall publish within 60 days its 
findings of fact, and if not unanimous, then in separate reports, 
and that pending such report no general strike shall be called : 
Provided, hoicever, That if no report is published within the 
designated period, then a retarding of the strike shall end. 

7. That the price at which house coal shall be furnished the 
mine workers at the tipple shall be determined by adding to the 
price in effect on October 31, 1919, the average percentage 
allowed as an increase on the wage scale, to wit, 27 per cent, and 
that when the coal is delivered to the miners' houses by the 
operator the actual cost of delivery shall be added. 

8. That for the purpose of the new agreement the prices 
charged the miners for blacksmithing shall be on the basis of 
existing contracts; providing, however, that the maximum 
charge shall not exceed three-fourths of 1 per cent of the miners' 
gross earnings. 

9. That explosives shall be furnished the miners at cost, which 
is to include handling, transportation, and insurance. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 57 

10. That since the miners and operators have agreed in joint 
conference to the establishment of a joint commission for the 
purpose of making an investigation within the Kanawha, Paint 
Creek, and Cabin Creek fields for the possible correction of in- 
equalities in order to bring about a more uniform condition, but 
have had no opportunity to present their report to the joint 
conference, and as both the operators and miners have asked 
that the findings of this commission be written into the new joint 
agreement, which is to be predicated on this report, we direct 
that the mine workers and operators compose their differences 
in harmony with the report of the joint commission referred to, 
and that the findings of that commission be written into the 
agreement. 

11. That the mine workers of district No. 12, Illinois, and 
the Illinois Coal Producers' Association, respectively, shall each 
select two members of a joint commission to study the situation 
in northern Illinois, Assumption, 111., and Decatur, 111., as to 
wage earnings, working conditions, production costs, and com- 
petitive relations, which commission shall report its findings to 
the next regular joint conference of the Illinois mine workers 
and operators following the expiration of the agreement for 
which this award constitutes a basis. The expense of this com- 
mission shall be borne by the mine Avorkers and operators 
affected, each paying one-half. 

12. That' the United Mine Workers of District No. 10, Wash- 
ington, and the Washington Coal Producers' Association, respec- 
tively, shall each select two members of a commission and the 
four members so selected shall appoint an experienced mining 
engineer, who shall also be a member of the commission. This 
commission shall, within 30 days from appointment, investigate 
and report to the joint conference of mine workers and operators 
of the State of Washington, the effect of the application of the 
awards herein set forth to the agreements and wage schedules in 
that State. In the meantime, the awards herein shall not apply 
in Washington. The expenses of this commission shall be borne 
by the mine workers and operators affected, each paying one- 
half. 

I. That the above summary shall in no way modify the decisions 
and awards set out in this report. 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 

In addition to the above summary of the awards the following 
specific recommendations are made: 

(1) That an executive order be issued instructing all Federal 
departments and other Federal agencies to purchase, transport, 
and store at the point of consumption, where such action may be 
practicable, an estimated three months' winter supply of bitu- 
minous coal before July 1 of each year. 

(2) That the Council of National Defense assume the duty 
of obtaining the support of the general public, particularly 



58 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

the large consumers, in the stabilization of the coal industry 
through the purchase, transportation, and storage at the point 
of ultimate consumption of its winter supply of coal — this to- 
be done during the spring and summer months. 

(3) That an executive memorandum be issued to the Inter- 
state Commerce Commission transmitting to that body a copy 
of this report with the findings, awards, and recommendations, 
to the end that the Interstate Commerce Commission may aid 
in the solution of the problems herein outlined, and in the hope 
that the Interstate Commerce Commission will give particular 
attention to the questions of seasonal freight rates, car supply, 
and car distribution, as well as the problem of railway coal 
purchase for storage. 

(4) That executive authority be issued permitting the trans- 
mission to the governors of the various States, to county and 
municipal authorities, and to the various State railway and 
public utility commissions copies of this report and of the 
specific recommendations made therein; and that the State 
railway and public utility commissions make use of their in- 
fluence with the various public utility corporations looking 
toward the early purchase and storage of coal by these corpo- 
rations reflecting, if necessary, the excess cost of such storage 
in authorized rates, and also to the end that instructions may 
issue from State, county, and municipal authorities directing 
the purchase and storage of three months' supply of coal on 
or before July 1, of each year, by and for the use of the States, 
counties, and municipalities, particularly on public works and 
in public buildings. 

(5) That the Interstate Commerce Commission consider the 
possible effect of a graduated seasonal freight rate that is lowest 
in the spring and a monthly graduated increase in rates until 
the late fall. 

(6) That copies of this report with its findings, awards, and 
recommendations be transmitted to the carriers to the end that 
they may be enabled to cooperate, particularly in regard to car 
construction and distribution, coal storage, and the elimination 
of the practice of commandeering. 

(T) That a copy of this report be transmitted to the Federal 
Reserve Board to the end that Federal reserve banks be asked 
to favor as eligible for rediscount paper drawn against coal in 
storage. 

(8) That the Interstate Commerce Commission, State rail- 
road and public utility commissions, within their jurisdictions, 
issue, where lawful, rules controlling car distribution among 
mines, to the end that no particular mine or mines may be per- 
mitted to obtain through a practice of car assignment and guar- 
antees, preferential car service. 

(9) That carriers, and, if necessary, the Interstate Commerce 
Commission and the various State railway commissions, within 
their jurisdictions, issue the instructions necessary to abolish 
the practice whereby purchasing agents of carriers use the com- 



REPOKTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 59 

pany's control over car supply to force down the price of rail- 
way fuel. 

(10) That the operators in supplying their quota of fuel to 
the railroads avoid, except in emergencies, the use for that pur- 
pose of coal whose properties make it more valuable for other 
uses. 

(11) That all data relating to the mining, distribution, and 
consumption of bituminous coal be coordinated and correlated 
periodically and regularly by some one Federal agency such as 
the Interdepartmental Board of the Council of National De- 
fense, in order that it may be available for any committee or 
commission hereafter called upon to investigate controversies 
between operators and miners in the bituminous coal industry. 

(12) That operators endeavor to plan their operations in such 
a way that improvement may be made in camps and housing 
adequate for the maintenance of the American standard of 
living, giving due consideration to the physical conditions in- 
volved, and recommend that when houses are to be constructed 
by operators that they shall be of modern type, based upon the 
probable life of the mine, with good sanitation; that rentals 
shall be based on the actual investment in houses and land ; that 
the return should include no profit to the operators ; that rentals 
be only sufficient to maintain the structures in good condition, 
provide for the amortization of the investment cost and proper 
insurance, and return not to exceed 6 per cent on the invested 
capital while such sum is invested, and that where the expected 
life of the operation exceeds 25 years, the period of amortization 
should be 25 years, but in no other event should the amortization 
period be less than the expected life of the property. 

(13) We recommend that the good offices of the miners' in- 
ternational organization be exercised to maintain the principle 
that has been stated by the mine workers who appeared before 
us covering their approval of the introduction of labor-saving 
devices and machinery. 

(14) That the making of advances on miners' pa} T be dis- 
couraged in every way, and, if for any good reason an ad- 
vance is asked and made, it shall be made without discount, 
either directly or indirectly. 

(15) That the operators give careful consideration to the 
alleviation of abuses in car pushing where they exist, in order 
that ameliorating practices may be introduced. 

(16) That representatives of the miners and operators in 
Alabama, Tennessee, eastern Kentucky, and Maryland arrange 
to put into effect the award herein set out, to the end that in- 
dustrial peace and tranquillity may prevail. 

(17) That your commission be discharged from its duties 
upon the signing of the agreement specified, and that all files, 
records, and property of this commission be then transferred 
to the custody of the Council of National Defense, whose dis- 
bursing officer has acted as disbursing officer of this commission, 
and any and all obligations incurred by it be liquidated by the 



60 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

said council from the funds appropriated by Congress for the 
expenses of this commission, upon vouchers approved by the 
Director of the Council of National Defense, and, therefore, that 
the unexpended balance of the appropriation for this commis- 
sion be transferred to the said council, and that on June 30. 
1920, the files and records of this commission be consolidated 
with the files of the Fuel Administration. 

In submitting this report particular attention is called to the fact 
that herein every effort has been made for the protection of the 
public, not only for the period under which this protection can be 
guaranteed by the Executive under the powers granted him by 
the Lever Act, but it has been our effort to go into the underlying 
causes for high costs and to offer some remedy therefor— this, in 
order that in the future, when the Government relaxes its control 
over prices, there may be a continuing force at work in the public 
interest. 

We believe it is obvious that unless some changes can be made 
toward the end of reducing costs in coal production and distribu- 
tion, no act of Congress, no order of the Executive, nor any other 
regulation by constituted authority can in the end provide against 
the continuing high costs. 

It is for this reason that we believe that this industry should be 
placed upon the proper basis for more continuous and thus more 
economical production and distribution, with the result that the cost 
of coal to the people will be reduced. 

All of which is respectfully submitted this 10th day of March, 

1920. 

Henry M. Robinson, Chairman. 

Rembrandt Peale, Commissioner. 

Attest: 

Herbert N". Shenton, 

Executive Secretary. 

Saml. A. Taylor. 

D. M. Reynolds. 

E. A. Golden weiser, 
Charles O'Neill. 
Rudolph R. Reeder, jr. 



THE MINORITY REPORT 

OF THE 

United States Bituminous Coal Commission 

TO 

THE PRESIDENT 

FROM 

JOHN P. WHITE, Commissioner 



61 



MINORITY REPORT. 



Dear Me. President : The inability of the Bituminous Coal Com- 
mission to agree upon fundamental issues compels me to set forth 
clearly and briefly my viewpoint. 

I have in mind the duty and obligation I owe to you, the industry, 
and the country. My report and award embodies this principle, with 
the expressed hope of enabling you to so determine and act that 
stability to the industry may accrue, justice and equity be established, 
and unrest displaced by contentment in such a full measure as to 
bring a long period of essential well-being to all. 

The testimony and evidence submitted to your commission brought 
forth all the elements entering into the controversy between the 
coal operators and miners that caused the deplorable and disastrous 
condition that led to the creation of this commission. 

If this commission was to succeed in its work, a calm, dispassionate, 
judicial decision, unanimous in its findings, should have resulted. 
That this was not accomplished is, indeed, regrettable, which I deeply 
deplore. 

I have carefully analyzed the majority report as a solution of the 
main and principal issues, with some of which I am in accord. To 
subscribe to their plan of reference of many major problems I can not 
agree. To do so would only leave unsettled many of the clearly 
defined issues that have caused so much contention and controversy of 
long standing. 

The majority in arriving at its conclusion was guided mainly by 
the theory of war-time methods in applying Avage increases, namely, 
the increased cost of living. To this principle I can not subscribe. 
The great outstanding fact that developed by this commission's 
hearings in which every citizen is interested is the increased cost of 
coal. 

From 1913 to October 31, 1919, the mine workers' rate per ton in- 
creased $0.23, the operators' receipts increased $1.41. and the retail 
dealers' receipts increased $2.10. 

The mine workers' prewar earnings did not permit a subsistence 
wage. While the 24 cents per ton increase on pick and machine min- 
ing recommended in the majority report will not reflect a reasonable 
standard of living of health and comfort into the lives of the mine 
workers, it will materially improve their conditions, and in the in- 
terest of honorable compromise I assent thereto. 

63 



64 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

The following recommendation for the increase to day men pro- 
vides the same percentage increase given tonnage men and follows a 
time-honored practice of the past. 

Keducing to a minimum the grave and disputed points that, in my 
judgment, must be adjudicated, I submit the following plan by which 
final and complete adjustment may be obtained and peace established 
in the industry: 

METHOD FOR PROMPT SOLUTION OF MAIN AND PRINCIPAL ISSUES 
AFFECTING BITUMINOUS COAL-MINING INDUSTRY. 

That the mining rates and wage schedules in effect on October 31, 
1919, in what is known as the Washington agreement applying to 
the central competitive field and the outlying districts, except as 
hereinafter provided, shall be subject to the following increases and 
conditions. 

1. Wage Increases to Pick and Machine Miners. 

That the mining prices for mining mine-run coal, pick and ma- 
chine, shall be advanced 24 cents per ton of 2,000 pounds. 

In the block coal field of Indiana and in other localities that are 
still on the screen-coal base, the usual methods of applying the 
tonnage rates shall continue. This also has its application to dis- 
tricts that have a joint understanding in applying wage increases 
to low coal. 

2. Wage Increases to Day Men. 

That all day labor and monthly men, except trappers and other 
boys, be advanced $1.35 per day, trappers and boys receiving less 
than men's wages to be advanced 75 cents per day. 

3. Wage Increases Applying to Yardage, Dead Work, and Room Turning. 
That all yardage, dead work, and room turning be advanced 20 per 

cent. Nothing shall prevent the representatives of the miners and 
operators in any district in joint conference from taking the flat 
equivalent of 20 per cent and applying it to yardage, dead work, 
and room turning if by so doing they will make for uniformity and 
maintain the differentials. Failing, however, to agree to such appli- 
cation, then the 20 per cent shall be applied on the existing rates, 
effective October 31, 1919. 

4. Central Competitive Field Differentials. 

The differentials existing in western Pennsylvania as between the 
thick and thin vein pick and machine mining, the 12-cent machine 
differential in Indiana, and the 4-cent differential in southern Illi- 
nois are disposed of in the following manner: The miners' inter- 
national officials shall select two representatives and the officials of 
the Coal Operators' Association of the Central Competitive Field 



EEPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 65 

shall select two representatives and the Secretary of the United 
States Department of Labor shall select the fifth and disinterested 
member, and the selections herein enumerated shall constitute the 
tribunal for the purpose of determining the disposition of the 
equities involved in the claim of adjusting the foregoing differen- 
tials. This tribunal shall be selected and enter upon its duties not 
later than June 1, 1920, and its awards shall become effective the 
1st day of the month following the determination and conclusion of 
its findings. 

5. Special Application for the Payment of Soapstone. 

Payment for handling soapstone directly overlying the No. 8 
seam of eastern Ohio and the Pittsburgh district of Pennsylvania 
shall be subject to the increase provided herein; and that part of 
the stone up to and including the 12 inches is referred to the 
operators and miners of these two respective districts, and that 2 
cents a ton be allowed, to be paid upon the ton, or it may be con- 
verted to a yardage basis if desired. 

The principle of determining the flat rates for the payment of 
yardage and dead work may be applied in these two fields in fixing 
and establishing pay for the handling of soapstone. 

6. Western Kentucky Differentials. 

The differentials existing in what is known as the western Ken- 
tucky coal fields, involving day wage, pick and machine mining, be 
referred back to the joint conference of operators and miners of 
that field for the purpose of mutual adjustment, and failing to agree, 
the matters in dispute shall be referred to a commission composed 
of two operators and two miners from that district, and the fifth 
and disinterested member shall be selected by the four so chosen, 
and failing to appoint, the Secretary of the United States Depart- 
ment of Labor shall make the appointment. Under no consideration 
shall the mines cease operation pending the investigation and find- 
ings of this commission. 

7. Car Pushing. 

We refer this important matter back to the various district joint 
conferences to be worked out in accordance with mutual understand- 
ing, taking into consideration the conditions that obtain in each of 
the districts from which these complaints emanate. 

8. Eight-Hour Day. 

That the present arrangement regarding the working hours of 
mine employees continue in effect until March 31, 1921. Beginning 
April 1, 1921, the maximum hours for employees shall not exceed 
eight hours underground per day and six days per week. 



66 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

9. Fulfillment of Award. 

The award becomes the base upon which all wage agreements shall 
be predicated. Tlie specific awards set forth shall not be subject 
to negotiations, but shall apply automatically in such agreements 
or schedules of wages. Latitude to unify or to enter into mutual 
arrangements is authorized, provided, however, that specific awards 
and references as well as principles are adhered to and in all other 
respects the agreement as of October 31, 1919, will be continued in 
effect and the application of this award shall be arranged mutually 
and without recourse to strike or suspension of mining. 

This basic award substitutes and absorbs the 11 per cent average 
wage increase and becomes effective April 1, 1920, and will continue 
in effect until March 31. 1922. 

BRIEF REVIEW OF ABOVE DIFFERENTIALS. 

The differential now existing between the thick and thin seams of 
western Pennsylvania was established years ago in order to com- 
pensate the operators for privately owned locks in the upper pools 
of the Monongahela Eiver. The United States Government took 
over these locks with proper reimbursement to the owners. 

The differential in Indiana of two cents per ton on machine mining 
coal below the Danville, 111., basing point is of long standing. The 
pick rate is in accord with the Danville basing point. 

The southern Illinois differential of four cents per ton was estab- 
lished mainly through freight rates and inadequate transportation 
facilities ; this reason no longer exists. 

The western Kentucky differential, like southern Illinois in char- 
acter, should receive the same consideration. 

Each of the districts with these differentials has enjoyed the Gov- 
ernment selling rate f. o. b. mine as its competitors which now con- 
tinues to exist. Any change in these differentials to their proper base 
can under no circumstances add any of the cost or burden to the 
public or consumer. The majority report evades adjustment of these 
issues while this report definitely and finally points the way to final 
conclusion and determined on their merits. 

FURTHER WAGE INCREASES SHOULD BE ABSORBED BY 
OPERATORS. 

It is acknowledged in the majority report that 80 per cent of the 
increase of 14 per cent granted to the mine workers at the time of the 
establishment of the commission has already been carried on to the 
public through increased prices by the operators. 

If the 27 per cent increase is granted, as recommended by the 
majority report and concurred in by me, this would leave only 13 per 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 67 

cent which the operators would have to absorb. As Dr. Garfield 
stated originally that they were able to absorb an increase of 14 per 
cent, and this increase is acknowledged not to have been absorbed, it 
seems apparent that the additional 13 per cent now called for could 
be taken care of by the operators, assuming that Dr. Garfield was cor- 
rect in his original statement. 

CAMPS AND HOUSES. 

The principles and suggestions embodied in this section of the 
majority report are commendable. In this connection attention 
should also be directed to some grave evils which still exist. Some 
coal companies still maintain what is known as the " closed camp." In 
these camps the companies dominate all the conditions of life of the 
people. The slightest opposition of the miner to the living and work- 
ing conditions offered, the coal companies are in a position to evict 
them from their houses and impose upon them almost any conditions 
they may desire, including discrimination against them on account of 
membership in the United Mine Workers or any labor organization. 
These conditions are un-American — economically, socially, and polit- 
ically — and can not be too strongly condemned. 

POWDEH, 

The findings of the majority report would be acceptable with two 
additions which are of fundamental importance: (1) That the price 
to be charged for powder in the future shall under no conditions ex- 
ceed the prices charged on October 31, 1919; and (2) that detonators 
shall be furnished to the miners without charge. 

COAL TO MINERS. 

As a substitute for this section of the majority report, I would sug- 
gest the following: 

The price in effect on October 31, 1919, for house coal furnished to 
the miners at the mines shall be increased by adding the labor cost 
only. No stipulation should be made as to the cost of delivery of 
coal to the miners' house for the reason that this provision may be 
abused by excessive charges. 

BLACKSMITHING. 



The simplest and most direct method of handling this problem 
would be to substitute for the findings of the majority report a rec- 
ommendation that "the charge for blacksmithing be made on a basis 
of actual cost." By sanctioning charges as of October 31, 1919, 
many excessive charges would be perpetuated. In some instances 
miners are now arbitrarily charged for blacksmithing in machine 
mining. 



68 PJEPOETS Or BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

CAR PUSHING. 

The statement made in the majority report that car pushing is a 
natural condition of the industry is without foundation in fact. 
The joint report is contradictory. The first paragraph states that 
the complaint has no foundation, the second reciting that it has 
foundation. The Government itself in the central Pennsylvania 
field allowed during the war miners five cents a ton for pushing cars. 
The majority report states there is not sufficient information on this 
subject to form a correct conclusion. The commission is, therefore, 
admittedly incompetent to pass upon the question. It should, there- 
fore, be referred to the various joint conferences to be worked out 
through mutual understandings and agreements. 

PRICE FIXING. 

The price-fixing policy should be continued until June 1, when the 
operation of the laws of supply and demand will be such that it will 
no longer be necessary. 

SPECIAL CASES. 

The majority report is objectionable in its recommendations rela- 
tive to the central competitive field, because it leaves unsettled these 
vital and all-important issues, which have caused so much of the 
existing unrest and intensification. 

The method provided by the joint report mereh T means a continua- 
tion of the conflict, as neither side, as experience has shown, will 
yield. This situation can only be effectively handled by the creation 
of such a commission as I have already in the beginning of my report 
recommended. 

The recommendations of the majority report as to northern Illinois 
are acceptable. 

As a substitute for the recommendations of the majority report for 
the State of Washington, I would recommend the following: 

The situation in the State of Washington, as presented by 
briefs and oral statements of the operators and miners, reveals 
one of the most unusual and complex problems submitted to 
this commission for its determination. The operators show by 
their briefs that in many of the commercial mines of the State, 
which produce the majority of the State's tonnage and sales 
realization, the price is below the production cost. They also 
show that foreign coal and fuel oil enter in a large degree into 
the future life of the coal industry in that State. 

The miners in rebuttal attack the figures in the briefs of the 
operators, declaring the depreciation, depletion, and miscella- 
neous items of production cost are exce-^ive and unwarranted. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 69 

In view of the vital issues involved and the lack of time and 
funds for this commission to make a survey and enable them to 
deal adequately with the problem, we recommend the following: 

That the representatives of the miners and operators of the 
State of Washington, at the earliest possible moment, select one 
operator and one practical miner, the two selected to agree upon 
a disinterested mining engineer as the third member, and. fail- 
ing to agree upon such a person, the Secretary of Labor shall 
make the appointment. This local commission shall make a 
survey of all the mines in the State to develop the facts under- 
tying the whole problem as it applies to this industry in the 
State of Washington and at the earliest possible moment submit 
its report to the joint conference of operators and miners of 
that State. Pending this investigation the miners and op- 
erators will jointly agree on what basis the mines will operate 
while the survey is being made. The expenses incurred by this 
commission shall be borne equally by the operators and miners 
of the State. 

I would also recommend the substitutive for the section of the 
majority report entitled "Alabama, Tennessee, eastern Kentucky, 
and Maryland " the following : 

The representatives of the miners from these States filed briefs 
citing the wages and conditions of employment, but, as the 
records show, none of the operators from these districts ap- 
peared before the commission, merely filing letters with the 
commission to the effect that they have no joint relations with 
the mine workers in their districts. 

In each of these districts during the war wage increases were 
adopted and put into effect by the United States Fuel Adminis- 
tration and tribunals were set up for the adjustment of the 
usual complaints common to mining. These tribunals included 
a permanent umpire in each district, and in order that justice 
may be done to all and mine workers be given the right, as given 
mine workers elsewhere, the commission would recommend 
that the operators arrange to meet with representatives of the 
•miners in those districts and to put into effect the award of 
this commission, and to adjust the differences that may prevail 
in the industry in their respective localities, to the end that 
industrial peace and tranquillity prevail. 
The recommendations of the majority report as to " Kanawha, 
Point Creek, and Cabin Creek districts, in West Virginia," are ac- 
ceptable. 

171797°— 20 6 



70 EEPOETS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

SPECIAL REPORT. 

In order that more detailed expressions of my views as to the fore- 
going and other points may be had, I have appended herewith for 
reference Appendix A. a complete tentative award which I origi- 
nally formulated for the consideration of the commission. 

WAGES. 

The joint report predicates its calculation of what it deems a fair 
wage award upon the rise in the cost of living as estimated in a 
preliminary figure of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 
namely, 97 per cent increase since the prewar period up to Decem- 
ber, 1919. They say, further, they "were guided by the principle 
that every industry must support its workers in accordance with the 
American standard of living/' Unfortunately, this increase of the 
majority report, even if granted — and we show later it is not — does 
not conform to any known standard of living except one that is neces- 
sarily degraded and debased, because the prewar wages of the mine 
workers were inadequate for comfort and decency, and the joint 
report makes no attempt to show that the awarded rates will enable 
the recipient to earn a wage sufficient to maintain himself and family 
above the poverty level. The mine workers submitted data from 
Government sources and from prominent experts, all pointing to 
the necessity of at least $2,000 per year, whereas the proposed in- 
crease will bring the yearly earnings that may be expected up to 
an average of only $1,200 to $1,300 and a maximum of only $1,600 
to $1,700. 

We object to this method of wage determination, for two reasons: 
First, because it results in perpetuating all the old hardships and 
suffering attendant upon an inadequate wage; and, second, because 
it makes no allowance for the fact that during the past two and 
three years the mine worker has been obliged to curtail his standard 
of living on account of prices soaring far above the purchasing 
power of his wage. It is true the report makes mention of this in 
the following terms : 

We hope that there will be a decline in the cost of living in the next two 
years, but we realize that the miners have borne an increase above their 
advance of wages and consider the possible future decline in living costs 
as an offset for these losses. 

In other words, the report sets a " hope " before the mine workers 
as sufficient recompense for actual monetary loss in the past. With 
all the objections that exist, however, the mine workers would be 
willing to accept gracefully this method of procedure, if the calcula- 
tion and the apportionment of the increase were to be properly made. 

There are two errors into which the joint report has fallen in the 
calculation and apx^ortionment of its wage increase. In the first 



REPORTS OP BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION". 71 

place, the weighting chosen is upon the tonnage basis, instead of upon 
the man basis; and in the second place, the day workers, who have 
received the larger increase heretofore, are utilized to depress the 
average increase due to pick and machine miners, and then are not 
themselves awarded even the increase as thus depressed. 

We make no special criticism upon averaging respective increases 
that have heretofore been received in the four fields of western Penn- 
sylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois on the tonnage basis, and we 
accept the figures of the joint report for the average increases in the 
central competitive field that have been received, respectively, by the 
machine miner, the pick miner,- and the day worker. These increases 
are: 

Per cent. 

Machine miner 48. 5 

Pick miner 35. 5 

Day worker . 76. 1 

However, when it is sought to combine the increases of the machine 
and the pick miner, obviously the weighting chosen should be on the 
basis of the number of men actually employed at the two occupations, 
and not upon the number of tons produced by the two methods. This 
wage determination is intended to fix the compensation to be paid to 
human beings, to enable them to support life in such a m-anner that 
they will be a credit to the country. The number of tons of coal that 
these human beings are able to produce should not be allowed to be a 
determining factor, though it is doubtless important. A coal-mining 
machine is able, on the average, to produce about 17,000 tons of coal 
per year. The production per employee is considerably less than 
1,000. If, then, the figures are weighted on a tonnage basis, the ma- 
chine is made the dominant factor, far outweighing the man. 

Below is given in parallel columns the effect of these two systems of 
weighting upon the increases that have been received since the prewar 
period (1913) : 

Weighting on tonnage basis. 

Machine miner 66% of 48.5% 32. 01 23% of 48.5% 11. 16 

Pick miner 34% of 35.5% 12. 07 77% of 35.5% 27. 33 

100% 44. OS 100% 38.49 

The effect of this difference is seen when the miner is combined 
with the day man. (At this step the joint report uses the man 
basis, though here again the mine worker receives the worst of it 
owing to the excessive weight placed upon day man — 36 per cent 
instead of the correct 30 per cent.) The joint report states that the 
average increase already received for all employees combined is 
55.61 per cent. The proper weighting on the man basis reduces 
this figure to 52 per cent, and if the proper distribution of miners 



72 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

and day men is adopted the figure will be 50 per cent. This means 
that the increase to be awarded, if it is done on this basis, should be, 
not 27 per cent as claimed b} 7 the joint report, but 31 per cent, and 
the increase in tonnage rates should be not 24 cents per ton but 27 
cents per ton. 

It should be noted that in the above, as in the joint report, the day 
men who, it is admitted, have since 1913 received a greater increase 
than the miner, are utilized to bring down the average per cent in- 
crease that should be granted in order to raise the present rates up 
to the same purchasing power they possessed in 1913. If the day 
men are not taken into account, and simply the wage rates of miners, 
both pick and machine, are considered, it would be necessary to in- 
crease these tonnage rates by 37 per cent or by 32.1 cents per ton 
according to the weighting on the tonnage basis, or by 42 per cent 
or 36.8 cents per ton, according to the weighting on the man basis. 

The joint report, in our opinion, is grossly unfair in this part of 
lis calculations. One of the two methods should be chosen in order 
tc be consistent : Either the increase due the miners should be de- 
termined irrespective of the day men, and then the increase due the 
day men should be calculated independently: or else the day men 
should be taken into account and the same increase given to all. 
The joint report takes the day men into account, thus depressing 
the increase due the miner, and then proceeds to fix the increase to 
be awarded these day men at an entirely arbitrary figure. Mani- 
festly, if the day men are included in the combined average, they 
should receive the increase that results from the calculation. 

Summing up the above, if it is decided to base the award solely 
upon the increase in the cost of living, granting nothing to the em- 
ployees as recompense for losses they have borne during the past few 
years when their wages lagged far behind soaring prices, the aver- 
age increase already given the pick miner, the machine miner, and 
the day man should be combined, and weighted according to the 
numbers in the respective classes. This procedure results in an in- 
crease amounting to 31 per cent as being necessary over and above 
the present rates of oil employees. 

In order to apply this increase, the tonnage rates of both pick and 
machine miners should be increased 27 cents per ton, that all rates 
for yardage, dead work, room turning, and the like be increased by 
31 per cent, and that the wage of day men be likewise increased by 
31 per cent. 

In order that the losses which the mine workers have undergone 
through previous failure to raise their rates to correspond with the 
increased cost of living may be apparent, and for the further pur- 
pose of showing that an incease in rates of 60 per cent would be 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 73 

necessary during the next two years to adequately reimburse them, 
a brief reference may be made to the data submitted by the mine 
workers during the proceedings. 

The mine workers presented a series of tables and charts showing 
that if the relationship between wage rates, cost of living, and value 
of the coal produced which existed prior to the war is to be main- 
tained a 60 per cent increase must be granted. 

The wage rate taken as a fair example is the rate per ton for hand 
mining in the Pittsburgh district. This rate is the basing rate for 
the district, and is not very diiferent from the basing rates in other 
parts of the central competitive field. Since 1909 this rate has in- 
creased 49.6 per cent, while in the same period the value of the 
coal produced per ton has increased 141.1 per cent. This discrep- 
ancy between the wage rate and the value of the product has existed 
only since 1916. Before that time the two maintained a very close 
relationship. 

If the wage rate had kept pace with the value of the product 
since 1916 as it did up to 1916, the rate in 1918 would have been 
$1.41 per ton, or 61 per cent above the actual rate at the time. In 
other words, the mine workers' claim amounts merely to the claim 
that the old relationship betAveen wages and value produced be re- 
established. 

And by a strange coincidence approximately the same rate will 
be necessary if the mine workers are to be compensated for the in- 
crease in the cost of living. As already pointed out, the present rate 
must be increased by 36.5 per cent in order to bring it up to the old 
relationship with the cost of living. Such an increase will bring the 
wage rate in question up to $1.1958 per ton. 

But another factor enters in. The last adjustment of the wage 
rate took place in November, 1917, and just barely brought the level 
of wages even with the cost of living. During the succeeding 27 
months the cost of living rose steadily. Each month the mine 
worker's wage would buy less. In other words, each month the 
discrepancy between the increase in the cost of living and his wage 
became greater. If we grant that the workers have a right to a 
wage which keeps pace with the cost of living, this means that each 
month the mine w T orkers were losing a part of the wages which 
were justly due them. 

AVhere wages are readjusted only at long intervals equity re- 
quires that they be raised enough in excess of the increase in the 
cost of living to cover this steady loss, which goes on from month 
to month. In order to fix the present amount which will compensate 
tho miners for the hardships they have suffered during the period 
when their wages were falling further and further behind the cost 



74 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

of living the average loss per ton must be ascertained. In one of 
the exhibits presented by the mine workers this has been carefully 
worked out. Careful investigation showed that the aggregate loss 
suffered during the 27 months amounted to $4.95 per ton. 

If a rate is fixed at this time to be effective for two years, starting 
with January 1, 1920. the amount lost during 27 months will have 
to be made good in 24 months during which the new rate is to be in 
effect. This would add one-twenty-fourth of $4.95, or $0,206, to the 
rate per ton necessary to bring the 1917 wage rate abreast of the cost 
of living. Adding this $0,206 to $1.1958 brings the total to $1.4018 
per ton as a just and equitable rate to be fixed for the ensuing two 
years for the pick miners of the Pittsburgh district. 

It is an interesting fact that the rate of $ 1.1ft 18 thus obtained is 
essentially the same as the rate of $1.41 per ton necessary to main- 
tain the old relationship with the value of the coal produced, and is 
practically an increase of 60 per cent over the present rate* 

THE LIVING WAGE. 

The proposal of Messrs. Robinson and Peale for a 27 per cent 
increase in wages is based upon the idea that such an increase will 
restore the prewar status of the mine worker. This results in a 
gross injustice, as pointed out in preceding section, to those employees 
whose wages had been little increased between 1914 and 1919. Thus 
the pick miner, who previously had been the basing occupation in 
making wage increases, received an increase of only 35.5 per cent 
between 1914 and 1919. The proposed additional increase of 27 per 
cent would give the pick miner a total increase of only 72 per cent 
over his 1914 rate, an increase far below the increased cost of living 
as accepted by Messrs. Robinson and Peale themselves. It is abso- 
lutely no solace to the pick miners, under such circumstances, to be 
told that the average increase for all mine workers had been as great 
as the increase in the cost of living, no more than it would be to a 
street car conductor to be told that, even though he received no in- 
crease in wages, the average earnings of street car employees had 
enormously advanced, owing to large advances granted the motor- 
men. Each man must live on the opportunity of earnings within his 
own occupation. 

But even if these inequalities had been adjusted and every occu- 
pation had been restored to its prewar earning capacity, the mine 
workers would not feel that full justice had been done. For the 
primar}^ demand of the mine worker before this commission was not 
for a restoration of prewar conditions. Their primary demand was 
for a living wage — a wage which would permit the average mine 
worker to maintain his family in health and decency; to live in 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 75 

modest comfort as regards housing*, food, and clothing for his wife 
and children; to enjoy some of the minor pleasures of living; to set 
aside some little of his income against old age and disability; to live, 
in other words, according to the accepted standards of an American 
citizen. 

We are highly gratified to note that Messrs. Robinson and Peale, 
in their report, recognize the justice and righteousness of this de- 
mand. They state that in arriving at their proposal they " were 
guided by the principle that every industry must support its workers 
in accordance with the American standard of living." Thus our 
contention is conceded as fully and expressed as well as we could 
desire. The disappointment is that the concession is merely in words. 
The principle is granted, but no attempt is made to apply it. In- 
stead, the wage proposal made is based, as noted above, on the idea 
that justice may be done by restoring unjust conditions of the past. 

In making a demand for a living wage the mine workers were 
asking for nothing extreme, nothing that had not been guaranteed by 
governmental policies during the war and sanctioned by the opinion 
of all enlightened peoples. Thus in the proclamation of President 
Wilson of April 8, 1918, and in the principles of the National War 
Labor Board, it was provided that if the rates of pay of workers were 
below a living wage, these rates would be brought to such a level as 
to provide a decent standard of health and reasonable comfort. If 
rates of pay before the war were below the requirements of a living 
wage they were to be advanced not only as the cost of living advanced 
but to a higher point — to a rate which would meet the requirements 
of standards of living based upon health and reasonable comfort. 

Later the leading commercial and industrial nations of the world 
gave their sanction to the principle of the living wage in the peace 
treaty, holding of supreme international importance " the payment to 
the employed of a wage adequate to maintain a reasonable standard 
of life as this is understood in their time and country." 

In addition to the political, economic, and social sanction which 
has been given to the principle of a living wage, it has recently been 
given the widespread moral and spiritual approval of the churches. 
The failure of industry to pay a living wage has been pronounced by 
the leading church denominations, both Catholic and Protestant, 
without exception, as not only antisocial but as opposed to the prin- 
ciples of Christianity. 

Such facts mean that the old theory of wages, prevalent in the past 
generation, has received the unqualified condemnation of the civilized 
world. This old theory or " law of wages " Avas that wages were 
determined by the forces of supply and demand. Labor, in other 
words, was viewed merely as something to be bought and sold. Little, 
if any, consideration was given to the human side of the wage 



76 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

problem. As a result of this law, labor's position was hopeless. It 
was required to suffer all the ills that arose in the industrial system 
as if ordained by the laws of the universe. This meant that in the 
bituminous coal industry the workers not only had to undergo the 
results of lack of markets but also had to contend against an over- 
supply of labor brought about by unrestricted immigration. 

During recent years, however, and especially during the war period, 
there has been a complete change in economic thinking in regard to 
the determination of wages. The enlightened opinion of mankind 
refused to continue to sanction such a hopeless theory. More consid- 
eration came to be extended to the worker as a human being. Gradu- 
ally it came to be felt that human welfare vras above considerations 
of relentless economic selfishness. Industry came to be considered as 
existing for men and not men for industry. Industry, it was con- 
cluded, should be the servant and not the master of humanity. Any 
industry which could not operate under these humane conditions was 
antisocial. Labor was no longer to be considered as a raw material 
of industry, to be bought and sold at a price. 

It is in the light of those principles that the justice of the mine 
workers' contentions must be considered. And in the light of these 
principles we find that even if the miners are granted sufficient 
increases to keep pace with the rising cost of living, the resulting 
rates would fall far short of the measure of justice. Such a miserly 
policy would simply sanction the preservation of rates of pay and 
working conditions far below the level of subsistence and health — - 
rates which would promise no possibility of comfort or of provision 
for sickness, old age. or incapacity. It would simply approve a 
standard of earnings inadequate to the support of a family and to the 
education of children. The mere maintenance of the old earnings 
would mean the necessity of continuing the practice of putting 
children and young persons to work, of bringing lodgers into the 
home in order to supplement the inadequate earnings of the head 
of the family. 

The best prewar investigation of the problem of a living wage was 
made for the Russell Sage Foundation by Dr. Eobert C. Chapin. 
The results of his investigations, published in 1909 under the title 
" The Standard of Living Among TVorkingmeirs Families in Xew 
York City," together with the conclusions of other authoritative 
investigations, show that annual earnings of $900 by the head of an 
average household were barely sufficient prior to the war for a mini- 
mum of physical subsistence. Dr. Chapin's analysis of the propor- 
tion of underfed in the various income groups showed that of the 
total number of families earning less than $800 annually 71 per cent 
were both underfed and underclothed. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 77 

111 the steel manufacturing town, Johnstown, Pa., a governmental 
investigation prior to the war disclosed that the death rate among 
infants was considerably above the average unless the family had an 
annual income of at least $800. This is an indicator of the degree 
of health in living conditions. It can be interpreted only as meaning 
that a family could not provide sanitary housing, healthful environ- 
ment, and adequate food, and that. the mother could not have the 
proper rest at home unless the family income was over $800 a 
jenv. And it should be noted that the majority of these studies as to 
the minimum requirements of healthy family life were made during 
the period 1907-1910. During the succeeding years the cost of living 
steadily rose until, in 1914, $900 was inadequate to maintain even a 
bare subsistence. 

When we turn from these studies to a consideration of the actual 
earnings of the mine workers prior to the war, we find those earnings 
below the standard set for bare subsistence. According to a report 
made by the Bureau of Labor in 1902, on the basis of a detailed 
investigation of the families of 758 mine workers, all earned less 
than $900 a year, 93 per cent earned less than $700, 81 per cent earned 
less than $600, and 54 per cent, or a majority, earned between $100 
and $600 annually. 

One of the most exhaustive and comprehensive investigations of 
the bituminous coal mining industry ever made was conducted by a 
special body, the United States Immigration Commission, during the 
year 1908-9. It included within its scope practically all mining 
areas of the country. It disclosed that the average annual earnings 
of all male heads of the 2,100 households studied by the commission 
averaged only $451 for the country as a whole. The average annual 
earnings of the native-born workers was $590 and of the foreign 
born $442. The average family income of these 2,100 families was 
only $577, the American families showing an income of $707 and the 
foreign born of $569. In the Middle West the average family in- 
come was only $532, in western Pennsylvania $551, in the South £699. 
and in the Southwest $582. Only about two-fifths of the families 
investigated derived their entire income from the earnings of hus- 
bands at the mines. The remainder found it necessary to supplement 
the earnings of the husband by taking boarders or lodgers, or putting 
the children of the household to work. 

The average annual earnings of Illinois pick miners, according 
to the State board, were only $485 in 1902, $538 in 1907. $516 in 1909, 
$556 in 1912, and $526 in 1913. Machine men and loaders in Illinois 
in 1914 earned on an average only $724. The average earnings of all 
mine workers in Illinois in 1913, a very prosperous year, were only 
$704; in Ohio $766; in Indiana $708; in western Pennsylvania $856; 



78 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

or an average for all of these States of $761. During the next year 
the average earnings were only $615. 

All of these facts, gathered from the most reliable sources, lead to 
the irresistible conclusion that prior to the zoar the mine workers weiv 
not securing earnings adequate even to maintain the barest physical 
requirements of their families. 

It is, therefore, evident that were mine workers given increases 
in rates of pay corresponding to the rise in the cost of living the 1 
present level of earnings would be unsatisfactory to a nation which 
holds important the plrvsical and moral well-being of its population. 
Adding the increased cost of living would only restore the inadequate 
prewar standards. What the mine worker needs, and what the in- 
terest of the country demands, is that, irrespective of increases in 
living costs, the rates of pay should be increased sufficiently to assure 
him a living wage. 

In view of the need of a living wage, and of their demand for such 
a wage, the mine workers felt under obligation to define what they 
meant by a living wage. In doing so, however, they did not urge 
their own views. They were satisfied to rest their case upon the 
results of the studies made by qualified students of recognized scien- 
tific authority and impartiality. They had all the authoritative 
material assembled and analyzed. In addition, they requested Prof. 
W. F. Ogburn, of Columbia University, a recognized authority on 
cost of living and living standards, to make a special study and report 
on the subject of the living wage as related to bituminous mine- 
workers' families. 

It was, of course, realized that the cost of living, as well as the 
methods of living, in bituminous mining areas were different in some 
respects from those which were characteristic of industrial cities. 
In order to meet this difficulty, the United States Bureau of Labor 
Statistics was requested to make, and is at present engaged in mak- 
ing, a study of specific mining centers. With the material which 
had already become available, Prof. Ogburn adjusted items of earlier 
studies to the peculiar needs of the mine workers and to the peculiar 
conditions of the mining towns. The result of his work is a budget 
which is believed to represent the barest minimum of health and 
decency for a mine-worker's family. The total cost, at prices now 
prevailing in the towns covered by the studies of the United States 
Bureau of Labor Statistics, is $2,243.94. 

This budget, as has been the case in all previous studies, takes as a 
basis a family of five. This is done because the average American 
family is of this size, because marriage is socially and morally de- 
sirable, and because it is necessary that marriage should result, on 
the average, in a minimum of three children if the race is to perpetu- 
ate itself. As a matter of fact, it seems certain that the average 
mine-worker's family contains more than five members. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 79 

The standard of living provided in this budget represents certainly 
no more than a minimum of human decency. It has been described 
by Prof. Ogburn as a "minimum-comfort budget." And there is 
little doubt that the average housewife, after glancing at the full 
list of items given, would emphasize the word " minimum." The 
amount allotted to food allows but slightly over $2 a day for the 
entire family of five. The following facts taken from the detailed 
budget will show how conservative Prof. Ogburn has been in his 
estimate regarding clothes: 

The man's suit, bought at $40, is to last him 2 years. His over- 
coat, priced at $35, is to last him 4 years ; and his raincoat 6 years. 
The' clothing problem of the miner is complicated by the fact that it 
carries a very considerable item of expense for the clothes which he 
wears down in the mine. 

Perhaps the most noticeable economy is found in the clothes 
allowed the wife by this budget. No allowance is made for those 
minor clothing luxuries which are of great importance, if not of 
actual necessity, to the comfort of a woman. The budget provides 
simply for homemade cotton waists and dresses. And the winter 
clothes which she wears when she goes out must do her at least two 
years, while a cheap winter coat must last three years. 

In short, this budget provides only those things that a family must 
have in order to maintain health and keep its self-respect. It pro- 
vides for no luxuries and omits many things which are necessities, 
according to our American standards. Most striking of all, it pro- 
vides for no savings. Surely a man should be expected to have a 
sufficient income to save at least 10 per cent. This item alone would 
add $200 to the budget. 

To show how conservative the budget is, the main items are quoted 
in full: 

Summary of Prof. Ogburn' s budget. 

1. Food-. $801. 38 

2. Clothing: 

Husband $146. 81 

Wife 130. 92 

Boy (11 years) 77.40 

Girl (5 years) 66.13 

Boy (2 years) 34.00 

455. 26 

3. Housing, fuel, and light 2S6. 00 

4. Miscellaneous 576. 30 

Total 2. 118. 04 

Average saving on garden and chickens 15. 00 

2,103.94 
Explosives, smithing, etc 140.00 

Total 2. 243. 04 



80 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

Accepting the above budget as representing the best of present- 
day thought on the subject, it remains to point out how completely 
an increase of 27 per cent in present wage rates would fail to raise 
the great body of bituminous mine workers to a level of healthy and 
decent living. For this purpose, the pick miner may again be taken 
as representative. There are not as many pick miners as machine 
miners in the bituminous fields, and their average wages are probably 
not as high, but the basic principle of the living wage is that it 
should be high enough to permit all workers, even the unskilled, to 
maintain the level above indicated. At rates prevailing in 1919 the 
actual annual earnings of pick miners in all bituminous mines were 
approximately $1,130, according to the comprehensive study made 
by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics and published in the 
December, 1919, Labor Review. According to exhibits submitted 
by the operators themselves the average annual earnings of pick 
miners and loaders in the northern Illinois district were, at 1918-19 
rates, under $1,000 a year. Furthermore, these same exhibits show 
that if conditions had been such as to permit these men to work 
every day when the mines were in operation in 1918, they would have 
been able to earn not over $1,200 per year; that if conditions had 
been such as to permit these men to work every clay when the mines 
were open in 1919, when conditions were worse, their annual earn- 
ings would have been less than $1,000; and that in less than one- 
third of the companies shown in the exhibit were the average monthly 
earnings of all occupations listed as high as $100, while in almost half 
the cases the average monthly earnings were below $80. 

It is clear, therefore, that an increase of 27 per cent in present wage 
rates would fall far short of raising these workers to a level of health 
and reasonable comfort. 

Until this level is attained the mine workers will remain on the 
precarious level of mere subsistence — where the great body of them 
now are. It is from these deplorable conditions that we wish to 
escape, and our hope has been that we would be granted a living wage 
so that the workers in the mines and their families might arise from 
the economic darkness and despair which now engulfs them into the 
economic sunlight. We are weary with long years and generations 
of mere existence. We wish the opportunity to earn a wage which 
will command a human standard of living and hold out hope for the 
future. 

IRREGULARITY OF EMPLOYMENT AND THE SHORTER WORKING 

DAY. 

The Relationship Between Production and the Problem of Irregularity. 

We agree fully with the statement of the majority report concern- 
ing the importance of irregularity of mining operations as a cause 
of unsatisfactory working conditions as well as of high prices. The 



KEPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 81 

fundamental importance of this phase of the subject was ably stated 
by Jlr. Herbert Hoover in his inaugural address before the American 
Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, February 17. 1020, 
in which he said : 

Many of the questions of this industrial relationship involve large engi- 
neering problems, as an instance of which I know of no better example 
than the issue you plan for discussion to-morrow in connection with the 
soft-coal industry. Broadly, here is an industry functioning badly from 
an engineering and consequently from an economic and human standpoint. 
Owing to the intermittency of production, seasonal and local, this industry 
has been equipped to a peak load of 25 or 30 per cent over the average 
load. It has been provided with a 25 or 30 per cent larger labor com- 
plement than it would require if continuous operation could be brought 
about. * * * There lies in this intermittency not only a long train of 
human misery through intermittent employment, but the economic loss to 
the community of over 100,000 workers who could be applied to other pro- 
duction, and the cost of coal could be reduced to the consumer. This inter- 
mittency lies at the root of the last strike in the attempt of the employees 
to secure an equal division among themselves of this partial employment 
at a wage that could meet their view of a living return on full employment. 

This states the gist of the whole problem. The question of a living- 
wage can not be considered apart from the problem of securing the 
mine worker enough days of employment to enable him to earn such 
a wage. In fact, the whole case presented by the United Mine Work- 
ers of America has been based upon the fundamental unity of the 
request for a living wage and the request for a shorter working day. 

The fact brought out in the majority report, that the principal 
causes of this irregularity are the unusual character of the market 
and inadequate car supply, are simply another way of stating that 
the problem is one of overproduction. This fact is recognized by 
the majority report when it states as one of the two main causes of 
idleness " overdevelopment of the industry " with the following sup- 
porting statement : 

At the present time America requires less than 500.000,000 tons of 
bituminous coal a year, while the capacity of the mines in operation is 
over 700,000,000 tons. 

Under the stimulus of war demand many new mines were opened and 
many old ones expanded in order to secure sufficient coal to meet the ex- 
ceptional and urgent national requirements. As a result, the coal industry, 
which you speculatively overdeveloped before the war, is still more over- 
developed now and employs more capital and more labor than is necessary 
to supply the present needs of the country. 

Full-time employment in the coal mine can not, therefore, be expected 
until the industry is put on such a basis that only those mines remain in 
operation whose output is required to supply the needs of the country. 

This statement of the case is absolutely sound. We wish to em- 
phasize that both the public and the workers arc suffering from the 
diseased condition of the industry brought about by speculation as 
the result of unregulated competition. To what extent will be shown 
later. But we wish to point out that after carrying the analysis to 
this point the majority report conies forward with no constructive 
suggestion to meet this problem of an overexpanded industry. In- 



82 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

stead it evades the issue and attempts to make the public believe 
that the whole matter can be handled by regulating the market so 
that the demand will be equally distributed throughout the year. As 
we will show, this is a fundamentally superficial approach to the 
problem. It does not take into consideration the very facts which 
the report is at such pains to emphasize. And it is on this account 
that we feel the importance of a thoroughgoing study of the problem 
and an intelligent decision from the angle suggested by Mr. Hoover, 
as above quoted, who would not, we feel sure, palm off on the public 
the idea that the unemployment due to the fact that the men were 
producing too much could be removed by distributing it throughout 
the year. As Mr. Hoover said, it is an engineering problem. 

Before turning to the really fundamental approach to this problem 
offered by the mine workers, we wish to call attention to another 
statement upon the subject in the majority report, a statement which 
gives an entirely erroneous impression. We refer to the assignment 
to " Labor shortage and strikes " of one- fourth of the time lost. The 
United States Geological Survey provides us with ample material 
from which to form an estimate in regard to this point. A diagram 
prepared in February, 1920, shows that for the entire period, 1910 
to 1918, only 10.6 per cent of the days lost in the bituminous coal 
industry were due to strikes. Since October, 1917, the Geological 
Survey has been issuing weekly reports as to the allocation of days of 
nonoperation to the various causes. During the first nine months of 
1918, a year when the market was abnormal in its ability to absorb 
full production, only 19 per cent of the loss of production was due to 
labor shortage and strikes. The higher figure given in the majority 
report may be best explained by the following analysis of the weeks 
showing abnormally high percentage of time lost due to labor. 

An examination of the reports of the Geological Survey will show 
that labor shortage and strikes are charged with more than a 10 
per cent loss of production in only 9 out of a total of 108 
weeks. That these instances largely resulted from an observance 
of holidays is shown by the following explanations, given mainly 
in the Geological Survey's weekly bulletins : 

Week ending. Cause of labor shortage. 

October 20, 1917__ Strikes in Illinois. 
December 29, 1917_Christmas. 

April 6, 1918 Miners' holidays and Liberty loan day. 

June 1, 1918 Memorial Day. 

November 2, 1918_.Epidemic of influenza and unexpected warm weather. 
November 9, 1918— Election day and celebration of premature notice of the 

armistice. 
November 16, 1918Celebration of signing of the armistice. 
December 29, 1918-Christmas. 
November 1, 1919_.Beginning of the strike. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 83 

It is admittedly common belief, and that belief has been fostered 
and encouraged with the intent of discrediting labor, that the miner 
himself is largely responsible for the notorious unemployment rec- 
ord in the industry. But from a careful analysis of the reports of 
the Geological Survey it becomes evident that the miner, as a rule, is 
clearly the victim rather than the cause of the unfortunate conditions 
which have led the majority report to speak of the bituminous indus- 
try as a part-time industry. A conservative estimate would place 
four-fifths of the unemployment beyond his control. And with this 
statement it must be recognized that were the mine worker to work on 
the days when idleness is recorded against him he would be faced 
with compensatory days of idleness some time later, for the industry 
only produces long enough to satisfy the market. 
Thirty-Hour Weekly Average Can Not Be Increased by Regularizing Market. 

To put the matter most charitably, the majority report shows great 
inconsistency in that, while recognizing the inability of the market to 
absorb full production, it still implies that a solution can be reached 
by regularizing the market. In other words, the presumption is that 
unemployment can be eliminated by being distributed. The casual 
reader of the majority report will undoubtedly assume that regu- 
larization of the market will provide full-time employment for the 
mine worker. This would be a gross misapprehension. For a study 
of the best available material shows clearly that had available labor 
been utilized to a reasonable extent during the year following the 
armistice the output would have been far in excess of the market 
demands. That this unfortunate condition has long existed in the 
bituminous coal industry is a well-known fact. Mr. Francis Pea- 
body, who was chairman of the coal committee of the Council of 
National Defense during the war, recently stated to a Senate com- 
mittee that the total cost of production of coal, as well as the earn- 
ings of the miner, depend entirely upon continuous work, and that the 
cost of his mines is affected by irregular operation to the extent of 
between 50 and 60 cents a ton. Commenting further on the existing 
irregularity of operation, Mr. Peabody makes the striking statement 
that the physical capacity of the mines themselves throughout the 
United States is sufficient to produce 40 per cent more coal than the 
possible demands of the country. 

This may be expressed in another way. With an average of 30 
hours of operation per week the industry can meet all the require- 
ments of the normal market. This is no hypothesis. It is based upon 
the figures given in the weekly reports of the United States Geological 
Survey. The extraordinary demands of the war years were met with 
an average operation of between 30 and 40 hours per week, the highest 
figure being under 42 hours per week; while the normal needs of the 



S4 BKPOBTS OS BITUMINOUS 30AL X>MMlSSIOW. 

ontry ! . the year following the i - e were met by an actual 

operation averaging under 30 hour? per Aveek. In other words, the 
min - - gg^sti as : r regularizing the market put forward in 
the majority report will amount to a regularizing of the 30-hour 
week. : - lwj : 1 : a ."-day week, with 6 hours per d 

But here lies the evil of the sugg stion carried in the majority 
;r. While actually recommending readjustments which will 
in such a regularization of the 30-hour average week actually 
nece-sary to meet the production requirement, it ~ Uy awards 

48-hour week and of course bases it- wage award uj : number 

of working hours. In other words, while verbally | Uj _ the prin- 
>f the living wage, it actually rails 1 afford the workei in p- 
rt unity to earn this living wage which is 1 ised upon a hypothetical 
48-hour week. This arrangement of the award el - xiniates 

hypocrisy. For it will lead the public to accept the wage award 
as just on the supposition thai the bituminous mine worker will 
have an opportunity to work as many hours pei week as his fell 
in other industries. A su] [ >sition which we have shown by elabo- 
rate statistics, drawn from the most authoritative sources, to be 
utterly false. What does this suggest] : the majority rer 

then mean? It : -' \ V - . V 

tsdist tii ~ l " : ttl w that ii U be less vticeable. 

It is because of this superficial appi tl e solution of an evil 

in the industry, vital to every man employed, to every family, and 
to the consumers who pay the price, that the mine workers em- 
phasize the importance of a study from the point of vie-" suggest 
by Mr. Hoover — an approach t<. this " lisease d" industry with i 
view to a fundamental cure. 

It is because the wage award suggested in the majority report will 
- -rived and judged upon the I. sis : - v -hour week that 
h to stress the present improbability of a week of more than 
hours whatever the award may say. This liscrepancy i the 

week actually awarded and the week which will be worked is the true 
sure of the unfairness . i the award. For it is a measure of the 
lint which the mine workers will apparently receive and will 
actually receive. It is this failure of the majority report to deal 
with actual conditions that requires comment. If the American mine 
produced only as much coal as his fellows in other countries, 
he would have full employment, for it would require more hours to 
produce the amount required by the country. As it is. the American 
mine worker produces more tons per year than his fellow in any 
try in the world. Thisu learl ~ tiated I lot 

thi United States B of Mi es. And hi* 

' • ! I - : t short 

pay. that hi \ay earn a living wag*:, but flay- 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 85 

ment and an accident death rate twice as high as the average for 
these same other countries. 

In the face of these facts we feel that the request that the actual 
facts of the industry be recognized and that the wage increase be re- 
lated to the fact that an average week of 30 hours will produce all 
the coal required by the country is fundamentally just. Failure to 
face a situation in which 30 hours a week will he averaged whether 
■it is officially sanctioned or not is merely juggling with solutions in 
order to avoid the true issue. 

The Request for a Shorter Working Day. 

In other words, the recommendation of the majority report under 
the caption, " The six-hour day and the five-day week," is entirely 
equivocal. The authors state that they were influenced in arriving 
at their decision "by the fact that steady work on the part of all 
workers is urgently required by the entire world during the period of 
reconstruction and reorganization when the enormous destruction 
and disorganization wrought by the World War in all countries and 
affecting all industries must be counteracted by unusual industry 
and perseverance. To make any restriction affecting the output 
would be an economic crime," Who, Ave ask, is it, then, who is limit- 
ing the average work of the mine workers to 30 hours per week? 
The majority report makes such statements despite its former recog- 
nition of the fact that the American market will absorb only five- 
sevenths of the full time output of the industry, and despite the 
following earlier statement: 

It is not to be expected that exports of coal will increase sufficiently to 
absorb a perceptible proportion of the gap between the demand for coal 
and the capacity of mines, as our shipping terminal facilities are such 
that not more than 25,000,000 tons of coal a year can at present he ex- 
ported. 

In contrast with such sham and hypocrisy we feel the importance 
of a frank acceptance of the reality of the situation. The request for 
the recognition of a shorter working day has been misrepresented 
as a movement for the reduction of the working period, when in 
reality it is a request for recognition of what actually exists and 
the adjustment of wages on that basis. The demand for recognition 
of the shorter working clay is, in fact, a demand for the opportunity 
to earn a living wage; it is a demand that the public understand 
clearly that rates awarded must be understood in terms of a 30-hour 
week and not of a purely hypothetical 48 hours which is never at- 
tained. Increase in the earning power of the mine worker is almost 
as dependent upon his securing a greater and more regular oppor- 
tunity to work and to earn as it is upon an increase in his rates of 
pay. With inadequate rates of pay in the face of lack of opportunity 
to work, the position of the mine worker has grown desperate. 

171797°— 20 7 



86 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION, 

The Shorter Working Day in the Mines of England. 

In addition to the actual fact of the 30-hour week proved by the 
figures of the Geological Survey, there is another cogent reason why 
we can not concur with the majority report in its opinion that the 
demand for recognition of this fact is " clearly uneconomic/' In 
theory it may be, but in practice in England this has not proved to 
be the case. 

Official reports from one of the oldest and most important coal- 
mining districts of England, where tens of thousands of miners have 
been for years working under agreements limiting their work at the 
coal face to less than six hours a day, prove conclusively that the 
request for a six-hour day should be regarded neither as extraor- 
dinary nor as bad economics. In fact, this short working day has 
improved so many conditions in the industr} 7 that the employers 
themselves would not go back to the longer day. 

These facts are embodied in the reports of two British govern- 
mental commissions appointed to inquire into the coal industry. 
They went at the problem with praiseworthy thoroughness, and as a 
result their reports are a mine of information. Such thoroughgoing 
studies of the industry are needed in this country, and it is to be 
hoped that in the future it will be taken up in an exhaustive way 
from the superficial and equivocating condition in which the ma- 
jority report of this commission has left it. 

According to Mr. Guthrie, secretary of the Durham Operators' 
Association, the agreements provide that the hours shall not exceed 
seven from the time of the last man going down to that of the last 
man coming to the surface at the end of the shift. According to his 
statement this means 5 hours and 20 minutes as the average time at 
the face in Durham and approximately 6 hours in Northumberland. 
This means work from one to two hours less per day than in other 
districts in England. Yet tables accompanying these reports show 
that the production of coal per man per shift is well up to that for 
the rest of England, and that the cost of production per ton is no 
higher. This led the coal miners' eight-hour day committee to re- 
port as follows : 

We can not but conclude that an hour's work of the men employed in 
east and west Scotland, Northumberland, and Durham, where the hours 
of work are shortest, is more effective than it is in Lancashire and south 
Wales, where the hours are longest. The tables do not show a uniform 
proportionate correspondence, but they do show some general relation 
between short hours and efficient work. 

In addition to this interesting fact of sustained production we 
find tables in the appendixes of these reports showing that there is 
greater regularity of work in the districts where the shorter hours 
are worked. To quote a brief extract from the report of the eight- 
hour da} 7 committee : 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION*. 87 

But after making due allowance for these local encouragements of the 
practice of abstention from work, we find that the statistics that we have 
collected of absenteeism give grounds for believing that upon the whole 
shorter hours of the working days do at present conduce to greater regu- 
larity of attendance at the pits in the districts in which the shorter hours 
are worked. 

And finally we find from those same voluminous reports that the 
rate of mortality is lower and the standard of health higher in these 
same districts where shorter hours are worked. According to tho 
committee already quoted : 

The tables put before us show that of the counties for which separate 
statistics are available the lowest mortality (675) occurred in Derbyshire 
and Nottingham, counties in which the hours worked are below the average, 
and the highest (1,006) in Lancashire, where they are longest. The tables 
further show that in Lancashire, Monmouthshire, and south Wales alone 
the districts in which hours are longest, did the mortality from all causes 
exceed that of " all occupied males," and that it is only in Lancashire that 
there is a-n excess due to " other causes than accident." 

The information available which would enable us to form a judgment 
as to the probable effect of the limitation of the working day upon the 
health of coal miners is of the scantiest nature, but so far as the evidence 
goes it tends to show that the standard of health of the workers is lowest 
in those districts where the longest hours are worked. 

This last is of great importance to the mine worker. For a large 
number of investigations all point to the same conclusion — that the 
hazards of the miner are greater than those of any other important 
industrial occupation. The experience of the leading industrial insur- 
ance companies has shown that the bituminous coal miner has a 
death rate 32 per cent above the average for all other industrial 
occupations. Representative life insurance companies will accept a 
miner only if he pays rates of risk 16 years above his actual age and 
then will permit him to have no cheaper policy than a 20-year endow- 
ment. The mortality experience of the Metropolitan Life Insurance 
Co. for the years 1911-1913 showed that 63 out of every 100 coal miners 
who died between the ages of 15 and 24 died a violent death; that 
44 out of every 100 between the ages of 24 and 34 years died an 
accidental death; while 31 out of each 100 between the ages of 35 and 
44 years died as the result of an accident. 

As a matter of fact the American miner is approximately twice as 
liable to death by accident as is the mine worker of the other coun- 
tries of the world. It is admitted that this is due to his greater 
productivity. And the conclusion seems to be indisputable that 
justice requires that this be counterbalanced by some such ameliorat- 
ing conditions as those prevailing successfully in large regions in 
England. 

Employers in England admit that the standard of citizenship :s 
higher among the miners where shorter hours are worked. They 
agree that the mines in the short-hour districts are worked much more 
scientifically. And a representative of the Durham Coal Owners' 



88 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

Association, when asked whether he thought it would be economical 
to go back to the longer working day answered, " No ; I do not." 

On the basis of such facts, carefully studied, the British coal in- 
dustry commission made recommendations which have led to the 
establishment of the seven-hour day throughout the mines of Eng- 
land, with the probability that when the effects on national produc- 
tion have been carefully watched by experts, the industry will go on 
to the six-hour day. 

The Cost of Excessive Capital When Unemployed. 

In general, the whole question of shorter hours is a question of 
economy, of human economy. We concur with the majority report 
in its statement that under existing conditions "a labor supply, 
sufficient to meet the needs of the rush season, is excessive during 
the rest of the year, part-time employment results, and the Nation 
will ultimately have to pay in its fuel bills the cost of maintaining 
this larger army of only partially employed workers." But we 
maintain that this is a very partial and one-sided statement of the 
case. What of the excessive capital investment which is employed only 
part time during a great part of the year, and for the maintenance 
of which the Nation ultimately pays in its fuel bill. The majority 
report has carefully provided that labor shall be paid on the sup- 
position that it works an average .ft-hour iveek, and the public will 
call it a fair wage on that basis. The difference between the hypo- 
theticcd .^8-hour iveek and the actual average 30-hour week rep- 
resents a part of the year for which the majority report makes no 
provision so far as labor is concerned. On the other hand, it ignores 
the fact that the Nation is called upon to pay profits and maintenance 
to capital on the basis of its normal employment being a 30-hour 
week. Capital is to get its full normal remuneration, although it 
works but 30 hours per iveek on the average. That is to say, the 
majority report tacitly awards the companies a 30-hour week while 
denying it to the mine workers. 

This fact came out very interestingly because the operators recog- 
nized that the request for a six-hour day five days a week was in 
reality a request for an opportunity to earn a living wage. In 
other Avorcls, recognizing that the argument that granting the re- 
quest would limit production was a specious argument they denied 
the principle that labor was entitled to a living wage if the country 
needed its services only part time. A representative of the operators 
put the question in this way: "Must the workers in the bituminous 
coal industry be maintained whether they work or not ? " 

It was indeed fortunate that the operators raised the question, 
for its implications are of great significance and there is danger 
that they would otherwise have been passed over. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 89 

The conclusion drawn by the operators was that if the country 
needed the mine workers only 212 days out of the year, it was under 
no obligation to pay them a living wage for the full year. Let the 
mine worker go out and find a job somewhere else. In other words, 
the speaker implied that the public was under no obligation to give 
the mine worker sufficient annual earnings to maintain his family 
for a full year when it only needed his services for three-quarters 
of a year. 

This, of course, led naturally to a similar question in regard to 
the capital invested in the industry. Was the public under any 
obligation to maintain this capital, whether it worked or not? In 
other words, if a 30-hour week, as actually worked during 1919, 
was not to be recognized for the mine workers, should it in equity 
be recognized for the companies? For, obviously, when the mines 
were idle the capital invested in the mines was no more serving 
the public than were the mine workers. And yet, as a result of care- 
ful analysis of financial returns, found in the reports of the com- 
panies and in the report of the Federal Trade Commission, the in- 
teresting discovery was made that in paying the regular price for 
coal the public is paying the coal companies over $100,000,000 each 
year for periods when the companies are doing nothing for the 
public; that is, for periods when the public does not need their 
services. This is not the whole amount paid to capital in the coal 
industry during the year. It is only the amount paid for mainte- 
nance and profits during the actual days of idleness; for capital in- 
vested in the coal industry expects the public not only to maintain 
it — that is, to pay its expenses — during these periods when it is un- 
employed, but also to pay profits for no services at all. 

The earnings of the wage earner are not given exclusive of the 
cost of maintaining himself and family. The question of a fair 
return to the worker is not based upon his profit over and above what 
it requires to maintain him as a serviceable member of industrial 
society. Applying this to capital invested in the coal industry, the 
full wage must naturally include maintenance, depreciation, and 
depletion charges, as well as the interest and dividends paid on stocks 
and bonds. The question raised by the operators was. therefore, 
found to involve the question whether the Nation is under any obli- 
gation to continue this wage to capital whether it works or not. 

The exhibit presented by the mine workers shows that in the cost 
of each ton of coal are items of overhead and profit which continue 
whether the mines are working or not. Taking these items only for 
the period when the mines were idle in 1917, it was found that for this 
period of idleness the public paid the coal operators approximately 
$144,000,000; that is, $225 per man employed. In the following year 



90 REPORTS OF BITUMIXOVi COAL COMMISSION. 

the total paid to maintain invested capital in idleness was approxi- 
mately sl2S.000.000. or $200 for each man employed. And it n 
be remembered that none of this went to the mine workers, and that 
they were, during these periods, without opportunity to earn a wage. 

It was also discovered that the public is to-day maintaining in idle- 
lies- at a regular charge included in the prices which it pays, large 
investments in coal lands which were acquired by the coal companies 
for deferred use in order to gain a monopoly. And. furthermore, the 
Nation is paying for the maintenance of these natural resources not 
i b the basis of their original cost to the original companies but on 
the basis of the enhanced value given to them in terms of the present 
market, largely due to the monopoly obtained by these purchases. 

In view of the-e facts, the answer to the question must apply to 
capital as well as to labor, to the companies as well as to the mine 
workers. Should it be decided that the public is under no obligations 
to maintain it- servants during periods when they are not actually 
serving, it would immediately be clear that when the public pays 
only for the maintenance of the companies during the portions of the 
year when they are actually working, there will remain over a very 
laro-e annual fund out of which may be met the cost of the living 
wao-e asked by the mine workers and of the shorter working day as 
a means to greater regularity. 

Such a question leads to other questions of the same order. For 
instance, it would be an interesting situation were a country to treat 
its soldiers as it does its miners, maintaining them only when there 
was specific fighting to be done. Surely, in the last analysis, it is not 
so much a question of obligation as it is of wisdom, of farsighted- 
ness. There can be no question as to the vital importance to the 
country of maintaining in a state of well-being a large body of its 
population which is performing a difficult an essential service. 

This is the gist of the matter. It is not a question to be settled 
m terms of economic theory, or by the use of current and misleading 
economic platitudes. The maintaining of an important part of the 
industrial population in a state of well-being to-day requires that the 
actual working hours dictated to them by the nature of the industry 
be recognized as a matter of fact, not as a principle, in order that on 
this practical basis their ability to earn a living wage may be gauged. 
Irregularity of employment is due to overproduction. Regularity 
attained by the methods recommended by the majority report would 
dimply regularize the short working period required to satisfy the 
needs of the country. The mine workers only ask the opportunity 
to earn a living wage, and we feel that a truly thorough study of the 
industry would find the circumstances substantially as discussed in 
this report. 



REPOKTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 91 

Inability xo Concur with Partial Statement of the Case. 

In the face of these facts we feel that we can not concur with the 
majority report in dismissing this fundamental question with a notice 
so casual that it is almost insulting to the men who have placed so 
much faith in the President's commission. The scant three type- 
written sheets with which the majority report dismisses a question 
vital to the lives of the mine workers hardly justifies the following 
statement with which the section is prefaced: "We have gone fully 
into the mine workers' demand for a six-hour day and a five-day 
week * * *." ■ 

Mr. Hoover, as already quoted, has stated that there lies in the 
recognized intermittency of employment in the bituminous industry, 
" a long train of human misery." With three typewritten pages the 
plea of half a million human beings to be relieved of this train of 
human misery is dismissed. In the face of the fact that the mine 
workers are actually averaging approximately a 30-hour week, the 
majority report " can not help but feel that 8 hours a day is not too 
much to work under present circumstances * * *. Therefore, our 
conclusion is that, under all conditions, the eight-hour day should be 
maintained." 

The very wording of this, which is the substantive part of the 
award is equivocal. It exhibits the casual way in which the problem 
has been treated. For, on the one hand, a real eight-hour day is not 
general throughout the industry even in theory, while on the other 
hand it exceeds that which has been demonstrated as possible in 
practice. On neither one side nor the other does the statement con- 
form with the facts which have been placed before the commission. 

In the interest of the Nation as a whole, however, we are inclined 
to go much more than halfway toward meeting the majority report 
in this matter. In doing this, we can not fail to point out that so 
casual has been the " careful " consideration reflected in the majority 
report that it has utterly failed to provide any means of enforcing 
the eight-hour day. Their lame statement, then, amounts to a mere 
pious hope. 

Punitive Overtime. . 

We feel, therefore, under obligation to cover this point. Closely 
associated with the request for a shorter working day, whether that 
be of six, seven, or eight hours, is the request for punitive overtime, 
a request which has been completely ignored in the majority report 
Punitive OA^ertime is recognized generally as the accepted means of 
securing strict adherence to the standard working day. Here again 
in an industry where unemployment constantly results from overpro- 
duction, it is important to have safeguards against the extension of 
the working day. 



92 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

That this request is not extraordinary is proved by following 
survey of the practice in this country. It is a practice current in 
practically all the organized trades, such as the building trades, 
metal trades, laundry workers, granite and stone trades, bakery 
trades, cigar makers, stationary fireman, glassworkers, hatters, paper 
makers, photo-engravers, printers, and printing pressmen. 

Punitive overtime is almost universal in the basic industries of the 
country except in the coal mines. It is paid in all of the four prin- 
cipal centers of the men's clothing industry, with over 100,000 
workers. 

The shipyards of the country, with approximately 300,000 em- 
ployees, have adopted the practice. Even the railroad freight serv- 
ice accepted the practice, effective in December last, and practically 
all railroad employees, or approximately 2,000,000 wage earners, 
now operate under this rule. The newsprint paper industries, so far 
as 35,000 or more employees are concerned, and the lumber industry 
of the Pacific coast, with 50,000 employees, pay punitive overtime 
as a result of war-time experience. 

The packing-house industry, in which are employed 100,000 wage 
earners, was required to pay its employees time and a quarter for all 
work over 8 hours and time and a half for hours in excess of 10 hours 
per clay. Judge Alschuler, in making the awards in May, 1918, de- 
clared the higher rate served to deter employers from unnecessarily 
requiring employees to work at such times, but if such work is neces- 
sary it serves also to compensate the employee for the added sacrifice 
he makes in so working at times when he should have his liberty. 

While punitive overtime is not paid in the steel industry as a whole, 
it is observed in the steel mills of Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. at Pueblo, 
Colo. In the case of the United States Steel Corporation the basic 
8-hour day was recently put in force, and the men were paid for 8 
hours' work as much as they had previously been paid pro rata for 
the remaining 3 hours of the day, as the men are still required to work 
11 hours during the day shift and 13 hours during the night shift. 

One of the most remarkable instances of the application of punitive 
overtime is that found in the merchant marine, presumably one of the 
last occupations where it would be practiced, where 270,000 employees 
in the service have regularly been paid overtime as a result of long- 
standing trades-union practices, and with the confirmation and ap- 
proval of the United States Shipping Board. The practice in the 
merchant marine affects all classes of employees — seamen, licensed 
officers, engineers, and galley and mess-room employees. 

The merchant marine service of Norway, Sweden, and Italy may 
be instanced as examples of the practices in foreign countries. 

In the street railway service of this country the payment of puni- 
tive overtime is gaining ground. It is observed in Boston and prac- 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 93 

tically all of the cities of Massachusetts. The new agreements in 
New York and Chicago provide for it. It is prevalent in Newark 
and Paterson, N. J., and in other cities in that State. Detroit and 
Cleveland observe the rule. The practice is to pay from time and 
a quarter to time and a half. 

The decisions of the National War Labor Board respecting the 
payment of overtime were fairly uniform. They fixed time and a 
half for all overtime, with double time for work on Sundays or 
holidays. The board also awarded double time for work on Satur- 
day afternoons and for such work late at night by those who were 
not night-shift men. In one case the joint chairman awarded time 
and a quarter for Avork between 8 and 10 hours and time and a half 
for work over 10 hours, while in another case they awarded time and 
a half and double time for the same work, respectively. 

State legislation in Oregon provides for punitive overtime for 
work done in excess of 10 hours, limiting such work to emergency 
work. In the case of work by the State, county, and other govern- 
mental divisions, punitive overtime is effective after eight hours of 
work per day. A law somewhat similar to the last named is also 
effective in the State of Washington. 

Our War and Navy Departments during the period of war required 
the payment of punitive overtime for all work in excess of eight 
hours, stating: "The theory under which we pay time and a half 
for overtime is a recommendation that it is usually unnecessary and 
also undesirable to have overtime. The excess payment is a penalty 
and intended to act as a deterrent." 

The general practice under the minimum-Avage legislation, which 
as a rule affects women and children only, is to discourage and limit 
overtime as much as possible. When overtime is necessary, com- 
pensation is required somewhat in excess of the normal rate of com- 
pensation. 

Either by law or administrative order, punitive overtime is re- 
quired to be paid to those persons coming within the scope of the gen- 
eral eight-hour laws in the following countries : Finland, France, 
Ecuador, Poland, Austria, and Portugal. The eight-hour bill, now 
before Parliament in Great Britain, specifies not less than time and 
a quarter as the punitive overtime. 

The International Labor Conference, at its recent meeting in 
Washington, when it recommended the adoption of a general eight - 
hour day by the countries which are members of the international 
labor organiaztion, also recommended the payment of time and a 
quarter for all overtime work. 

In the voluntary agreements and in the binding awards of the 
arbitration courts or wage boards of Australia and New Zealand, 
all overtime in excess of 8 hours a day, or 40 hours per week, 



94 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

must be paid for at a higher rate of remuneration. Such a re- 
view of the industrial practice in regard to overtime tends to 
show that the mine workers, in asking for the establishment of puni- 
tive overtime, are merely asking that their industry be brought into 
line with the general industrial progress of the world. 

A Conservative Recommendation. 

If we are to take at all seriously the majority recommendation 
concerning the eight-hour day. we must be assured : 

(1) That it shall be a real and not a sham eight-hour clay. 

(2) That punitive overtime shall be established as a means to its 
enforcement. 

With a view to arriving at a settlement which will spare the coun- 
try chaos in an essential industry, while standing firmly upon the 
justice of the request that the shorter working week now in actual 
practice be regularized, we put forward as the basis for compromise 
a suggestion which will make definitive the incomplete recommenda- 
tion of the board concerning the eight-hour day. 

In order that the mines shall be allowed full time to adjust them- 
selves to the change we recommend that the present working hours 
of mine employees continue in effect until March 31, 1921; and that, 
beginning April i, 1921, the maximum hours for employees shall not 
exceed eight hours underground per day and six days per week. We 
further recommend the establishment of punitive overtime as a 
means to enforcing this standard day. 

This is merely a fair interpretation of the recommendation of the 
majority report which, as expressed, was so hopelessly vague as to 
mean nothing. It was manifestly unfair to put forward such a 
recommendation without at the same time making plain to the public 
that the miner's day is at present much over eight hours. He works 
at the coal face 8 hours, but he is down in the mine 9 or 10 hours and 
sometimes more, for many mines are deep and the galleries long. 
Which means that the mine worker must travel many minutes, even 
hours, below ground, far from the light of day, subject to all the 
hazards that prevail in the industry. It is no more than fair, as well 
as strictly conservative, to ask that the eight-hour day be made a real 
one, an eight-hour da} 7 from the time the miner leaves the surface 
until the time when he returns to the surface again. This will merely 
put into effect in the bituminous industry what is to-day recognized 
as just in the majorhVy of industries in the enlightened countries of 
the world. 

In our attempt to bring the matter before the public in this light 
we are encouraged by the statement of President Wilson, in his re- 
marks urging the Adamson law, which may be quoted in part as 
follows : 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 95 

Because a man does better work within eight hours than he does within 
a more extended day, and that the whole theory of it, a theory which is 
sustained now by abundant experience, is that his efficiency is increased, 
his spirit in his work is improved, and the whole moral and physical 
vigor of the man is added to. This is no longer conjectural. Where it 
has been tried, it has been demonstrated. The judgment of society, the 
vote of every legislature in America that has voted upon it is a verdict 
in favor of the eight-hour day. 

The reasonable thing to do is to grant the eight-hour day, not because 
the men demand it, but because it is right, and let me get authority from 
Congress to appoint a commission of as impartial a nature as I can choose 
to observe the results and report upon the results in order that justice 
may in the event be done the railroads in respect of the cost of the experi- 
ment. 

In brief, then, we are willing to go more than halfway in order 
to secure a working basis for the next two years, deferring to a 
future day and more thorough study judgment upon the request 
that actual working hours in the industry be recognized. But we 
can not refrain from commenting upon the injustice to the mine 
workers involved in the summary dismissal of the whole subject 
without any attempt to embody in the report facts which would 
inform the public as to the true hours worked by the mine workers 
and as to the real nature of the so-called eight-hour day. The pub- 
lie has a right to feel insulted at being thus fed with hand-picked 
material, predigested, as it were, in order that its judgment may be 
furnished ready-made. The phrasing of the final award concern- 
ing the eight-hour day is especially to be condemned. It is so 
worded as to have all the appearance of being a liberal recommenda- 
tion of the eight-hour day, when in point of fact the interpretation 
of " maintain " would surely result in a continuance of the pres- 
ent inhuman conditions in the bituminous industry. 

RELATION OF LABOR COSTS TO TOTAL COSTS, PROFITS, AND PRICES 
IN THE BITUMINOUS COAL-MINING INDUSTRY. 

A survey of the coal-mining industry demonstrates conclusively the 
fallacy of the assumption that wage increases have been the primary 
factor in the advance in the price of coal over prewar prices. It is 
equally erroneous to assume that the proposed wage increase now un- 
der consideration for bituminous mine workers must necessarily be 
followed by a corresponding increase in the cost of coal to the con- 
sumer. The utter falsity of this position is clearly shown by a review 
of the Federal Trade Commission's recent report on the coal industrj' 
and other official data bearing on the production and distribution of 
coal. 

An examination of these data shows that the increase in the retail 
price of bituminous coal since 1916 has been from three to four times 
as great as the increase in labor costs during the same period, and that 
the operator's share in the proceeds of the coal industry has increased 



96 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. ' 

from 75 to 400 per cent, while the distributive share of labor has 
actually decreased. 

In the central Pennsylvania coal field, for example, out of every 
dollar received by the operator in 1916 for his coal, 66 cents went to 
labor, while 6 cents was retained by the operator as his profit. In 
1917. labor received only 16 cents out of each dollar, while the oper- 
ator retained 32 cents. This was a decrease in labor's share of 30.3 
per cent, and an increase in the operator's share of 133.33 per cent. 
In 1918. labor's share of each dollar was 3.5 cents, a decrease over 
1916 of 16.7 per cent, while the operator's share was 25 cents, an in- 
crease over 1916 of 316.7 per cent. 

Again, in the southwestern field, labor's share of the dollar in 1916 
was 60 cents, and in 1917 it was only 39 cents, a decrease of 35 per 
cent, while the operator's share in 1916 was 13 cents, and in 1917 it 
was 42 cents, an increase of 223 per cent. In 1918, labor's share was 
55 cents, as against 60 cents in 1916. a decrease of 8.33 per cent, 
while the operator's share was 21 cents as against 13 cents in 1916, 
an increase of 81.6 per cent. 

Thus, there are established the following facts: 

(1) That increased coal prices were not due to increased labor 
costs, but, on the contrary, were due largely to increased profits 
exacted by the operators; and 

(2) That increased wages to labor were more than offset and ren- 
dered less than negligible by the increased efficiency and increased 
productivity of labor. 

In 1917. the operators in the central field could have sold their 
coal for 20 per cent less than they did exact for it, and still have 
retained twice as much out of each dollar they received as they re- 
tained in 1916 ; in 1918, they could have reduced the price 13 per cent 
and still had a share twice as large as they had in 1916. 

In 1917, these operators could have given the mine workers a wage 
increase of more than 13 per cent, without increasing the price of 
coal, and still have retained twice as much out of each dollar as they 
retained in 1916 ; in 1918, they could have made the wage increase 
almost 21 per cent, without increasing prices, and still have had their 
share in each dollar twice what it was in 1916. 

Additional data contained in the report of the Federal Trade Com- 
mission and the reports of the United States Bureau of Labor Statis- 
tics may be cited further to prove that increased coal prices were not 
due to increased wages granted to, or exacted by. the mine workers. 

Although labor costs per ton of output in the southwestern Penn- 
sylvania coal field, for example, increased 51 cents per ton or about 
66 per cent in 1918 over 1916, the proceeds to the operator per ton 
of output, for this period, increased about 250 per cent or more than 
double the increase in the cost of labor. During the same period the 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 97 

wholesale price of coal advanced $20 or about three times the in- 
crease in labor costs and the retail selling price increased $2.19 which 
was more than four times the amount awarded to labor. 

In the case of the central Pennsylvania coal fields the figures are 
equally as conclusive. In this district there was an advance in 1918 
over 1916 in labor costs of 80 cents, or 87 per cent, in total f. o. b., 
mine costs of $1.05, or 79.6 per cent, and in sales realization of $1.75, 
or 125 per cent, and an increase in the operator's margin of profit 
of 70 cents, or 875 per cent. The increased labor cost in 1917 over 
1916 was 41 cents, or 44.5 per cent, whereas the increase in the opera- 
tor's margin in 1917 over 1916 was 84 cents, or 1,050 per cent. 

It may be noted that in 1917, had the operators in this field been 
content to exact a margin of profit only three times as great as their 
margin in 1916, they could have increased the wages of the mine 
workers more than 50 per cent without increasing the price. In 
1918, with a margin of profit three times as great as they received 
in 1916, these operators could have reduced the price of coal more 
than 16 per cent, or they could have increased the mine workers' 
wages over 31 per cent without an advance in the price of coal. 
These operators, however, exacted and received a margin of profit 
in 1917 ten and a half times as great as they received in 1916, and 
in 1918 almost nine times as great. 

No further evidence should be necessary to demonstrate whether 
higher coal prices have been due to wage payments to the mine 
workers or to the profits of the operators. 

In this connection, however, it may be stated that under prewar 
conditions a margin of 8 cents a ton was regarded by the operators 
as normal and acceptable, while a margin of 10 cents was regarded 
as extremely gratifying. This would indicate that a margin of not 
to exceed 25 cents should have satisfied the operators during war 
times, while on the contrary their margin soared to 92 cents in 1917 
and to 78 cents in 1918. 

In the Illinois coal fields, increases in labor costs per ton of output 
in the various districts in 1918 as compared with 1916, ranged from 
63 cents to 75 cents. The amounts realized by the operators from the 
sale of coal during the same period show increases which ranged 
from $1.03 to $1.41, and in most instances were more than double the 
advance in labor costs. As contrasted with the increase in the retail 
price of bituminous coal, the advances in labor costs ranged as low 
as 22.8 per cent and were less than 35 per cent, in each instance, 
of the advance of $2.19 per ton in average retail prices in 191S 
over 1916. 

In district No. 1 of the Illinois coal fields, for example, labor costs 
per ton of output increased from $1.48 in 1916 to $2.23 in 1918, or 



98 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL. COMMISSION. 

only 75 cents as compared with an increase in sales realization from 
$1.87 to $3.19, or $1.32. and an advance with operator's margin from 
3 cents to 42 cents. This increase in labor costs, it should be noted, 
represented only 34 per cent of the advance in retail prices during the 
same period, which increased from $5.61 to $7.80, or $2.19, as pointed 
out above. 

In district No. 2 labor costs advanced from a minimum of $1.08 in 
1916 to an average of $1.75 in 1918, an increase of over 67 cents as 
compared with an increase in sales realization from a minimum of 
$1.31 to an average of $2.72, or $1.41, and an increase in the opera- 
tor's margin from a minimum of 3 cents to an average of 42 cents. 
In this district the increase in labor costs represented only 30.6 per 
cent of the advance in retail prices in 1918 over 1916. 

In district No. 3 there was an advance in labor costs from 87 
cents in November, 1916, to $1.37 in 1918, an increase of 50 cents as 
compared with an increase in sales realization from a minimum of 
$1.13 in 1916 to an average of $2.23 in 1918. or $1.10. In the case of 
the operator's margin there was an increase from a minimum of 1 
cent in 1916 to an average of 46 cents in 1918. 

In district No. 4, labor costs increased from 80 cents in 1916 to 
$1.35 in 1918, or 55 cents, while sales realization during the same 
period increased from $1.12 to $2.15, or $1.03, with an increase in 
margin from 10 cents to 40 cents. 

In district No. 6 labor costs advanced from a minimum of 85 
cents in 1916 to an average of $1.48 in 1918, an increase of 63 cents, 
as compared with an increase in sales realization during the same 
period from $1.07 to $2.42, or $1.35, and in the operator's margin 
from 1 cent to 45 cents. 

As contrasted with the increase in the retail price of bituminous 
coal, it will be noted that the increase in labor costs in districts 
Nos. 3, 4, and 6 represented only 22.8 per cent, 25.1 per cent, and 
28.8 per cent, respectively, of the advance of $2.19 in average retail 
prices in 1918 over 1916. 

In the Illinois fields it is also found that the share of labor in 
each dollar of sales realization decreased, while the share of the 
operator invariably increased. For example, in district No. 4, la- 
bor's share in the dollar dropped from 72 cents in 1916 to 63 cents 
in 1918, a decrease of 12.5 per cent, but the operator's share in- 
creased from 9 cents to 19 cents, or 111.1 per cent. In district No. 
1 labor's share decreased from 79 cents to 70 cents, or 11.4 per cent, 
as compared with an increase in the operator's share from 2 cents 
to 13 cents, or 550 per cent. 

Incontrovertible evidence of the enormous earnings of bituminous 
coal operators and the most complete exhibit of their profits, is to 
be found in their tax returns to the United States Treasury De- 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 99 

partment. These were sent to the United States Senate in response 
to Senate resolution 253 and were, thereupon, published as Senate 
Document Xo. 259, Sixty-fifth Congress, second session. These re- 
turns, together with those for the year 1918, as well as the returns 
of 32 companies collected from financial manuals, indicate that 
coal companies have passed all increased production costs and their 
income and excess profits taxes on to the public, and have then still 
further increased the price of coal so that they might retain morj 
than twice their normal income. 

PROFITS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMPANIES. 

The majority report deals with this subject very briefly. As a 
matter of fact, considering the important bearing which the ques- 
tion, whether or not the coal operators realized large or small returns 
on their operations, has upon the entire controversy, it is apparent 
that this matter has been lightly touched upon and quickly passed 
with the evident purpose of leaving the impression that the profits 
of the industry have been at least normal during the war. The data 
submitted by the majority report, however, carries itself the con- 
demnation of any such conclusion. 

The report fails to mention either the exhibit which the operators, 
during the hearings, submitted on this point, or that offered by the 
mine workers. The former consisted of a voluminous tabulation of 
the income, so-called net worth, of a large number of industrial 
companies which had profited greatly during the war. This was ex- 
hibited as offsetting the fact that the coal operators had made larger 
gains during the war than previously. The earnings of the Pitts- 
burgh Coal Co. were included in this tabulation. This was the only 
coal company shown, the operators stating that because of its mag- 
nitude it was representative of the bituminous coal mining industry, 
and pointing to the fact that it had made only a comparatively small 
percentage on its "net worth" or capital stock. The utter fallacy 
of this contention was proven by the mine workers in their reply 
brief, as it was conclusively shown that, like the majority of the 
corporations floated at the beginning of the twentieth century, prac- 
tically all of the common stock of this company was given as a bonus. 
It is not necessary here to go into all of the details of the past finan- 
cial history of this concern, but the facts conclusively show that of 
the present $68,000,000 capitalization of the Pittsburgh Coal Co. 
little more than half represents actual investment of money or of 
property. This, of course, means that in order to arrive at the real 
return on actual investment, the dividend rate given in the report 
must be doubled. In other words, this great corporation earned 10 
per cent in 1917 and 20 per cent in 1918. 



100 



REPORTS OT BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION- 



Further than this, in order to furnish an apparent basis of value 
for this stock, the company, in 1917, had certain mining engineers 
in the Pittsburgh district revalue its holdings. This revaluation 
placed a book value upon the property several hundred per cent in 
excess of the actual cost of the property, which meant, of course, 
that without one cent of additional capital being subscribed or paid 
in, the " invested capital " or " net worth " of the Pittsburgh Coal 
Co. was increased several fold. 

The mine workers' exhibit on this point, of which the joint report 
likewise fails to make mention, was in two sections; the first was a 
tabulation of the financial statistics of every coal and coke company 
which published its annual statements. The income, capital stock, 
and tonnage of coal produced by each of these companies for the 
seven-year period, 1912-1918, where the same were obtainable, were 
shown in this compilation. All told, 32 companies, ranging in size 
from comparatively small to the largest bituminous coal corporation 
in the United States, were included. Some of these companies 
showed very large profits, others only average incomes, while some 
showed a net loss. The profits tabulated in the exhibit represented 
the net income of the companies after the deduction of all items of 
depreciation, depletion, amortization, sinking funds, royalties, inter- 
est on indebtedness, and Federal income and excess profits, as well as 
local, taxes. 

As the income and production figures for all companies were not 
available for each of the seven years, it was impossible to draw an 
accurate comparison of the actual increase in tonnage produced and 
the increase in profits realized. In 1917, however, the amount of 
coal produced by 31 companies of the group was obtained, the ag- 
gregate production in that year being 81,000,000 tons, or approxi- 
mately 14 per cent of the entire tonnage mined in the United States. 

The percentage of the total net income to the total amount of 
capital stock, and the amount of net income per ton of coal produced 
by all companies combined, for each year, is shown below. 





Per cent of 

net income 

to capital 

stock. 


Net income 
per ton. 


1912 


7.3 
9.0 
6.4 
6.4 
S.9 
21.3 
15.5 


Cents. 
21.0 


1913 


21.0 


1914 


21.0 


1915 


18.4 


1916 


25.1 


1917..., 


67.9 


1918 


48.8 



Average for prewar period, 1912-14 
Average for war period, 1916-18 — 



7.6 
15.2 



21.0 
48.4 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 101 

The chief value of these figures is the contrast furnished between 
the percentage earned on capital stock and the net profit per ton 
produced for the prewar years, when normal competitive conditions 
fixed the price of coal, and the period of the war. It will be noted 
that these companies made an average rate of profit during the three 
years, 1916-1918, exactly twice as great as during the prewar period, 
and this despite the fact that many of them had greatly increased the 
amount of capital stock during this time. The significant feature 
brought out here, however, is that this advance in earnings was not 
due to increased production, at least primarily, but to a greater 
pro-jit taken from each ton of coal. This is evidenced by the fact that 
the net income per ton is shown to be almost two and one-half times 
greater during the war period than previously. 

When the representative nature of this group of companies is con- 
sidered, as well as the fact that it includes all companies publishing 
income statements, many of which have pursued this policy for a 
great many years, long before the war, it would seem to be sufficient 
evidence that profits in the bituminous coal-mining industry were 
much greater during the war than ever before. The fact that some 
few companies earned a low rate of return on their so-called invested 
capital or capital stock in 1917 or 1918 would seem to indicate that 
they were either overcapitalized or else were holding large amounts 
of coal land idle at the expense of the public for future profit or 
exploitation. 

The second section of the mine workers' exhibit on profits in indus- 
try, concerning which the majority report also makes no mention, is a 
compilation of data from Senate Document No. 259, entitled " Cor- 
porate Earnings and Government Revenue." The data presented 
therein are from income and excess-profits tax returns to the Treas- 
ury Department of approximately 400 corporations engaged in min- 
ing bituminous coal and the earnings of these companies were as 
follows in 1917 : 



Before 

deducting 

tax. 



After 
deductins 

tax. 



Per cent of net income: 
To capital stock. . . . 
To invested capital. 



45 
3.S.4 



31.5 
24.5 



The per cent of net income to capital stock in 1916 was 13/2. 

The companies included were considered by the Secretary of the 
Treasury as being representative of the industry. Sufficient data 
concerning corporations engaged in producing bituminous coal are 
not available from public records to afford a satisfactory basis of 
comparison with the figures contained in Senate Document Xo. 259. 
In the case of anthracite coal, however, a comparison of figures col- 
171797°— 20 8 



102 REPORTS OP BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

lected from other sources with those contained in Senate Document 
Xo. 259 is possible. 

Published financial reports of three large companies engaged in 
producing anthracite coal show a total capital stock of $47,411,000 
in 1917, while Senate Document Xo. 259 lists six companies the capi- 
tal stock of which was but $1,150,000 in 1917. 

Thus it appears that the figures presented in Senate Document 
Xo. 259 are not representative of the anthracite coal mining in- 
dustry and they ma}' not be representative of the bituminous coal- 
mining industry. 

The majority report contains a tabulation of the profits of 1,551 
bituminous coal companies taken from their income-tax returns for 
the year 1918, with the tonnage of coal produced as reported by 
the United States Geological Survey. The grouping in the table 
relates entirely to the percentage of profit to invested capital, and 
therefore only the total figures are of any real value in considering 
the same. 

It is noted that this group of companies, measured by the tonnage 
of coal produced in 1918, represents approximately 31 per cent of 
the bituminous industry. It is noticed also that the combined total 
of capital stock is $271,000,000, and it is therefore evident that this 
compilation from that standpoint is not as representative of the in- 
dustry as the tabulation submitted by the mine workers which was 
taken from the companies' published financial statements, the ag- 
gregate capital stock of the 32 companies there included being 
$278,000,000. 

The majority report cites the fact that 337. or 22 per cent, of the 
total of 1.551 companies reported net losses in 1918. To say the 
least, it was unfortunate that the Treasury Department, in furnish- 
ing these figures, did not go a step further and give the information 
with reference to all bituminous coal companies. There, then, could 
have been no doubt left in the minds of anyone as to the percentage 
of the entire industry that made profits in that year, and it would 
certainly have set at rest speculation as to what the actual profit per 
ton of coal is. 

But the strangest feature of this portion of the majority report 
is the fact that only the per cent of net income to invested capital 
was considered in arriving at the conclusion that a comparatively 
small return was realized by the coal operators in 1918. In the 
first place, the term invested capital is misleading, inasmuch as it 
rarely means the. amount of money actually invested in the business 
or industry, but rather the book value at which the corporation car- 
ries its land and other property. This, of course, may be arrived at 
in a number of ways, or may be merely a surmise, or the result of 
an earnest desire to justify excessive profits or stock issues, as in 
the case of the Pittsburgh Coal Co. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 



103 



The conclusion reached in the majority report seems to be that, 
as the average percentage of income to invested capital for the 
1,551 companies was less than 10 per cent, profits in the bituminous 
coal-mining industry during the year 1918 were moderate. That 
the Treasury Department did not take the same view of it is quite 
apparent from a glance at the figures as presented in the table 
shown below. It will be noted that the total net income, before 
deducting taxes, and before deducting the losses of the 337 com- 
panies showing deficits, was $91,000,000. Despite the fact that this 
amount only represented a little over 20 per cent of the total in- 
vested capital of the combined group, the Treasury Department 
required these corporations to pay $6,000,000 in income taxes and 
$36,800,000 in excess profits and war taxes; in all, practically 50 
per cent of their total profits. From this it would seem that Mr. 
McAdoo was not at all impressed with vast amounts of money 
" invested " in the coal-mining properties of these concerns, but 
took the position that they should base their profits upon the amount 
of capital stock. Even after paying their taxes, it will be seen that 
these companies profited quite generously in relation to capital 
stock, the average, including the 337 companies with losses, being 
practically 17 per cent. 

Statement compiled from a tabulation in the report of the Bituminous 
Coal Commission entitled : " Table prepared from 1,551 returns of net in- 
come filed by bituminous coal-mining concerns for 1918, distributed accord- 
ing to the ratio of net income or net loss to invested capital, showing the 
number of returns, the aggregate amount of capital stock, invested capital, 
net income, income tax, for profits and excess profits tax, total tax, and the 
net income after deducting tax, also for those returns reporting loss, 
and net aggregate loss (also total tonnage for 1918, supplied by the 
Geological Survey ) ." 



Companies 

reporting 

net income. 



Companies 

reporting 

loss. 



Total. 



Number of companies 

CapitaLstock 

Invested capital 

Net income „ 

Income tax 

War profits and excess profits tax 

Total tax 

Per cent of total tax to total income 

Net income after deducting tax 

Average per cent of net income to invested capital before 
deducting tax 

Average per cent of net income to invested capital after 
deducting tax 

Average per cent of net income to capital stock before deduct- 
ing tax 

Average per cent of net income to capital stock alter deducting 
tax 

Tonnage './///////.'.'...'..'.'..'........ 

Nei income per ton: 

Before deducting tax " 

After deducting tax ...." 



1,214 

$251,002,554 

$443,520,546 

$91 ',454,207 



337 

$20. 932, S39 
$27,445,231 
1 $2, 619, 732 



$6,233,168 

$30,812,269 



$43,045,437 
47- 1:1 

548.408,771) 

20. 02 

10. 91 

36. 44 

19. 29 
168,893,351 
Cents. 

54. IS 
2S. 66 



Cents. 
123. SO 



1,551 

$271,935,393 

$47i». 905, 777 
SsS.SS4.47- 



S6.233.10S 
$36,812,269 



$43,045,437 

4S.4' : 
$45,789,038 

18.86 

9. 72 

32. 67 

16. St 
179,902.887 
Otnts 

49. 38 

25. 15 



Loss. 



104 EEPOET3 OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

Another feature which was entirely ignored in the tabulation con- 
tained in the majority report is the relation of the net income to the 
tonnage of coal produced. It surely must be conceded that a com- 
pany, no matter what amount of mone} r it may have invested in coal 
lands or equipment, is not entitled to a return on this investment 
when its property is nonproductive. The true measure, therefore, 
of the rate of return to which a coal corporation is entitled would 
naturally be the amount of coal produced in a given year. This 
information is contained in the table, but as above stated was not 
used in the majority report in arriving at a conclusion as to the 
reasonableness of the profits made thereon. 

The inclusion of this information by the Treasury Department and 
the Geological Survey is gratifying to us. The profit per ton has 
been computed in the foregoing table and shows that these com- 
panies, the fortunate and the unfortunate, the large and the small, 
all combined, made a net profit, after paying out 50 per cent of their 
income in taxes, of approximately 2o\ cents on each ton of coal 
produced. When it is considered that this profit is after all deduc- 
tions for depletion, to pay for the coed land, for depreciation, to pay 
for the equipment, for interest on o orr owed money , which usually rep- 
resents the entire investment, and for cdl other charges which can- 
oe crowded into an income tax return, it would seem as though the 
profit realised icas quite adequate. 

As figures similar to those for the prewar years are not obtain- 
able, it is not possible to make a comparison of this per ton profit, 
but in a general way it has been understood that in normal times 
a net profit of 10 cents a ton by coal-mining companies was con- 
sidered a fair return. As is evident, these companies realized two 
and one-half times this amount. It is also evident that the group 
is composed almost entirely of comparatively small concerns, the 
average capitalization being practically $175,000, and from the com- 
pilation made by the mine workers of the earnings of the larger 
corporations it is clear that their profits are even a greater amount 
per ton. As a considerable proportion of the total tonnage of 
bituminous coal is mined by large concerns, the average rate of profit 
in the industry is apparently a great deal more than 25^ cents per ton. 

In the light of all these facts, it is absurd for the operators to 
put forth the claim that if the mine workers are paid a living wage 
the public will suffer a forced advanced cost of coal and a further 
increase in the cost of living. While the mine workers, during our 
great national emergency, were working every day available in order 
to maintain production, were being paid wages even far below their 
prewar purchasing power, which, as has been pointed out, was below 
a level of actual subsistence, and at the same time were sending 
members of their families to France and straining their inadequate 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 



105 



resources to the utmost in the purchase of Liberty bonds in order 
to aid our common cause, the coal-mining companies were helping 
to win the war by taking extortionate profits from the Government, 
our war industries, and domestic consumers, and were telling our 
harassed people, when they protested against the prices of coal, that 
the high prices were clue to the exaction of high wages by the mine 
workers. Their action has cast a stigma upon the industry and 
upon the patriotic honor of our people. 

INTRODUCTION OF LABOR-SAVING DEVICES AND MACHINERY. 

As a substitute for the extended section of the majority report on 
the topics we would recommend the following statement which more 
briefly and effectively covers the questions at issue : 

Labor-saving machinery : The operators have the right to install labor- 
saving machinery at any time, and such machine work not now covered 
by this agreement shall be governed by such scale as the miners' and 
operators' representatives may determine. 

The United Mine Workers have always been favorable to and have 
never opposed the introduction of machinery or labor-saving ma- 
chinery in the operation of the mines. As a matter of fact, the sub- 
stitute of mechanical methods for hand labor has been a very notice- 
able feature of the development of the industry during the past 25 
years. The number of machines in use has increased from 545 in 
1891 to 18,463 in 1918. In the former year only 5.3 per cent of the 
bituminous coal supply was mined by machinery as contrasted with 
55.9 per cent, or more than one-half, in 1918. The growth in ma- 
chine mining is shown by the following table : 

Production of coal by machines in the United States since 1891, in short tons. 



Year. 


Number of 

machines 

in use. 


Per cent 

of total 

production 

mined by 

machines. 


Year. 


Number of 

machines 

in use. 


Per cent 
of total 

production 
mined by 
macliines. 


1891 


543 
1,446 
Ir, 956 
2,622 
3, 125 
3,907 
4,341 
5,418 
6,658 
7,663 
9,184 
10,212 


5.3 
11.9 
15.4 
19.5 
22.7 
24.8 
25. 6 
26.7 
27.6 
28.2 
32.8 
34.6 


1907 


11,144 
11,569 
13,049 ' 
13,254 j 
13,829 ' 
15,298 j 
16,3S1 
16,507 
15,692 i 
16.19S 
17,235 
IS, 463 


34.9 
37.1 
37.6 
41.7 
43.9 
46. S 
50.8 
51.7 
54.9 
56. 5 
55. 5 
55.9 


1896 


1908 


1897 


1909 


189S 


1910 


1899 


1911 


1900 


1912 


1901 


1913 


1902 


1914 


1903 


1915 


1904 


1916... 


1905 


1917... 


1906 


1918... 







In its annual report on coal for 1914, the United States Geological 
Survey says : 

During the last quarter of a century the cause of unionism among the 

miners has shown noteworthy progress and a number of coal-mining States 
are now all unionized. Prices of labor have boon markedly advanced, the 



106 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

higher cost of labor being chiefly offset by the economies effected through 
the use of mining machines and other mechanical and technical improve- 
ments. 

The great saving effected by the coal operators through the use 
of mining machines is manifest at a glance at the scale of wage rates. 
At present the rate for hand mining in both the Hocking Valley and 
the Pittsburgh districts is $0.8764 per ton (thin vein) while the rate 
for machine mining (chain machines, thin vein) is only $0.70 per 
ton. At the rate of this differential of 17^ cents per ton, the opera- 
tors made a gross saving through the use of mining machines amount- 
ing to $56,688,000, in the year 1918, and owing to the rapid growth 
of the use of machines, this profit is growing every year. In the 
year 1915, when the differential was larger than it now is, the saving 
through the use of machines was $48,000,000 and that the operators 
were keenly alive to their financial interests is shown by the fact 
that the number of mining machines has increased in the three years 
from 1915 to 1918 by over 17^ per cent. 

There are naturally some deductions that must be made from the 
above gross saving. There is the interest on the investment, and 
cost of the power required to operate, as well as repairs and deprecia- 
tion. The saving per machine, however, taking all makes and 
styles together can be readily found by multiplying the differential 
(17 i cents) by the average tonnage mined per year per machine 
(17,500 tons in 1918). This product is over $3,000 as the average 
saving for each machine, and when this sum is compared with the 
average cost, it is seen that the investment is a very profitable one 
for the operators. 

The differential that now exists in Illinois between pick and ma- 
chine mining is 10 and 7 cents per ton, and in Indiana it is 12 cents 
per ton, both States having a considerably lower differential than in 
the Hocking Valley and the Pittsburgh districts, but even at this 
comparatively low differential the saving to the operators is large. 
The tables show that in the three years from 1915 to 1918 the number 
of machines in use in Illinois increased 20 per cent and in Indiana 
increased 37 per cent. 

The cost of mining machines varies with the style and the make, 
but they average between $2,200 and $3,200 apiece. If the interest 
on the investment is figured at 5 per cent, and the depreciation is 
large enough to replace the machine entire at the end of five years of 
use, the yearly overhead charge per machine will vary between $550 
and $800. The necessary repairs are more than counterbalanced by 
the junk or " turning in " value of the discarded machine, and the 
power for the operation is furnished from already existing power 
stations. Thus, a differential of 7 cents per ton with a yearly output 
of 17,500 tons per machine will effect a gross saving to the operators 



REPORTS OF BITUMIXOUS COAL COMMISSION. 107 

of $1,225, which is a net saving above overhead charges of from 
$675 to $425. A differential of four and one-half cents is sufficient 
to justify the operators in installing machines and obtaining the 
benefits of the resulting increased production. 

The coal miner's position, however, is not that all the savings 
from the use of the machine should be credited to him. His posi- 
tion is admirably set forth by John Mitchell, formerly president of 
the United Mine Workers of America, in his book, " Organized 
Labor," chapter XXVIII. President Mitchell says : 

Trade-unionists know that they can not do without further advances in 
machinery, just as they realize that they could not maintain their present 
status if all the machinery introduced in the past were to be suddenly 
withdrawn. 

What the trade-unionist desires is not the prohibition of machinery, but 
its regulation. The unionist demands, first, that machinery be introduced 
in such a way as to give the greatest possible benefit to all classes, with 
the least possible damage to the workman, and, second, that the intro- 
duction of machinery shall rebound to the direct and immediate advantage 
of the workman, as well as to the direct and immediate advantage of the 
employer. 

Whatever may be the ultimate effect of the introduction of machinery, 
the immediate effect has been to work extreme hardship on the employee. 
The workmen w T ho are obliged to work longer hours or more intensely 
for the same amount of pay, or who are thrown out of employment entirely, 
will not be consoled by the fact that in the long run prices will be reduced 
and the articles which they manufacture, cheapened to them. The union- 
ists believe that machinery should be introduced with the least possible 
friction and the least possible hardship to individuals. When the em- 
ployer is asked to increase wages or reduce hours, he frequently asks for 
an interval of a certain time in order to allow him to accommodate him- 
self to the change, and the labor unions are now beginning to recognize 
the necessity of making great changes in industrial conditions by slow 
degrees. An equal duty should rest upon the employer to make alterations 
gradually, so as to extend the effect of the change over a series of years, 
and thus permit the workmen to accommodate themselves to the condi- 
tions. 

It is felt by the trade-unionists, moreover, that the workman should re- 
ceive some direct benefit from the introduction of new machines. Apart 
from the fact that machinery works damage indirectly by making work 
more irregular, apart also from the fact that the introduction of the ma- 
chine often means increased intensity of work and increased wear and tear 
upon the nervous system, apart from all other considerations, the workman 
should receive a portion of the benefit which is derived by the employer 
from the introduction of machinery. Originally the simple tool of the 
workman was his own property, and any improvement in this tool re- 
dounded to his own advantage. The machine was an extension and a com- 
bination of tools, and its introduction and improvement meant a gradual 
separation of the workman from the instruments of production. The viral 
fact of machinery was this— that it was too effective to permit the work- 
man's tool to compete with it and too expensive for the individual workman 
to own it. As a result there grew up separate from the workman a capi- 
talist class, a class owning machines and hiring labor. The result of this 
separation was that every improvement in the machines was to the Immedi- 
ate, if not the ultimate, advantage of the employer and to the immediate. 
if not the ultimate, detriment of the workman. The majority of tra do- 
unionists do not take the stand of the Socialists, that these machines 
should be taken away from the capitalist class and be owned by the whole 
body of workmen, but they do claim that whenever a machine is improved 
or a new machine introduced, a part of the advantage should go to them 
immediately in increased wages or decreased hours. It is felt by the 
unionists that this is only fair and just, and that such a distribution of 



108 KEPOETS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

benefits would compensate the workman for the increased intensity of his 
work and would be to the ultimate advantage of the employer and of 
society. 

******* 

The inventor receive? his reward through royalties or through a cash 
payment, society through the cheapening of the product; and the employer 
and employees should arrange among themselves for an ceiuitable distribu- 
tion among them, the employer to be paid for his increased expense, for the 
cost of equipment, maintenance, and risk, and for his enterprise, while the 
icorkingman should be paid for his increased exertion and should be given 
a share of the bonus above that amount. The introduction of the machine 
should be done upon what may be likened to the cooperative system, and 
the machines should not be used to make the profits of the employer 
greater and the pittance of the employee less. 

As a matter of history, trade-unionism has not only not restricted the 
use of machinery, but has actually encouraged and stimulated its applica- 
tion. 

Respectfully submitted. 

John P. White, Commissioner. 
Washington, D. C, March 12. 1920. 



APPENDIX TO THE MINORITY REPORT. 



TENTATIVE AWARD ORIGINALLY PREPARED FOR THE CONSID- 
ERATION OF THE COMMISSION. 

United States Bituminous Coal Commission, 

Washington, D. C, February ££, 1920. 
Messrs. Henry M. Kobinson and Eembrandt Peale, 

Commissioners. 

Gentlemen : Pursuant to our understanding of last week, I here- 
with transmit an outline of the award on the labor section of the bi- 
tuminous coal controversy. 

Aside from my intimate knowledge of the questions at issue, I 
took pains to follow closely the subject matter submitted to our com- 
mission. In addition to this I examined carefully the principal 
briefs submitted by each group of operators and miners, have 
weighed every phase of the situation, and I firmly believe that the 
proposals outlined herein are fully sustained by the records. 

The history of this case as presented to the commission seems to 
me to bear out the outstanding fact that the mine workers have been 
denied proper consideration in the matter of wages and working 
conditions during the war, when we take into consideration the high 
cost of living and the many substantial adjustments that were made 
in the wages, hours, and working conditions of men in mairy other 
lines of industry. 

The mine workers were keenly disappointed that they were driven 
back to work, in the manner and way so well known to each one of 
us, in the recent strike, and they must, in my judgment, receive sub- 
stantial consideration in the claims that they are making if our com- 
mission is to be instrumental in rendering an award that will stabil- 
ize the coal industry. 

That the mine workers have confidence in the judgment of the 
commission I feel quite sure. The coal operators, on the other hand, 
can afford to meet these issues in a broad manner, because their 
profits have been large and substantial. 

The hazardous nature of the miner's calling is such that he can 
no longer be denied a proper adjustment of those outstanding 
abuses so characteristic of the past history of the industry. 

I have endeavored to make my contribution to the work of this 
commission helpful, because I quite understand the burdens the 
miner has to bear in his calling, and I can fully appreciate his feel- 
ings. Smarting under methods that were employed to force him 
back to work, the miner has not given up the idea that he was right 

109 



110 REPORTS Of BITUMOTOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

in the course he was pursuing. And because of these conditions he 
is performing his work to-day somewhat in a state of subdued 
rebellion. He knows full well the many decided advantages his 
employer enjoys at his expense. 

My record in the labor movement is such as to leave no doubt of 
my desire to adjust matters through conciliation, and I am more 
than anxious that we reach a unanimous conclusion, because the 
President of the United States has so ably pointed out to us the 
necessity of doing so and because I know that if it is not done the 
mine workers' existing agreement will expire on April 1, 1920, in 
all the bituminous districts of the United States; that this is also 
true of the anthracite region, and hence the necessity of getting 
together in the broadest manner. 

I have drafted this outline, disregarding many fundamental claims 
that are made by the mine workers, and knowing full well that the 
coal operators can meet the obligations imposed in this award, ap- 
proximately, without serious inconvenience to themselves and with- 
out the public being seriously discommoded, and by so doing will 
demonstrate that they are willing to be generous and share some of 
the boundless prosperity they have enjoyed and will no doubt con- 
tinue to enjoy. 

Respectfully submitted. 

United States Bituminous Coal Commission. 
Johx P. White, C ommissioner, 

EXPLANATORY. 

Central competitive field agrees to 11 cents as a correct flat rate 
of applying 11 per cent increase. 

Districts South or Ohio Riveb. 

Average pick-mining rate Oct. 31, 1919 $0. 7165 

Flat rate based upon 14 per cent $0. 1003 

Production south of Ohio River, 1918 tons__ 157,852,274 

Districts West of Mississippi River. 

(Including Michigan and Maryland.) 

Average pick-mining rate Oct. 31. 1919 $1. 0450 

Total rate based upon 14 per cent $0. 1463 

Production, 1918 tons__ 73, 025, 978 

Production en Central Pennsylvania and Adjacent Territory. 

Average pick-mining rate Oct. 31, 1919 $0. 87 

Flat rate based upon 14 per cent SO. 1218 

Production, 1918 tons— 73, 817, 477 

Number of tons south of Ohio River at less than 11-cent rate 157, 852, 274 

Number of tons west of Mississippi River and central Pennsyl- 
vania on per cent basis . 146, 843, 555 

When applied on a flat rate, pick mining for entire country brings mora 
than 11 cents. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. Ill 

Why Pick-Mining Base Should Apply. 

It is the human base; all handwork. It has always been the 
method used by operators and miners in the application of wage 
increases and reductions. 

Pick mining includes mining, drilling, shooting, and loading into 
the mine car, this being uniform in all mining fields. 

Why Machine Base Should Not Apply. 

Because of the many types of machines used and the varied rate 
for each type. 

Every new machine would bring constant changing of base rates 
and result in unending disturbance in the industry. 

Let the machine enter upon its merit to compete against the pick 
standard. The human element must always be protected. 

The $1.70 day wage increase and $1 for boys is an increase of 35 
per cent on the average wages of October 31, 1919. 

Table of Increase Since 1913. 

Per cent. 
Average increase in the central competitive field, all employees, to 

Oct. 31, 1919 48. 83 

Increase cost of living to date 86 

Increase selling price of coal f. o. b. mines 120 

UNIFYING EXAMPLE. 

Entry Yardage. 





New rate, 
35 per cent. 


Increase. 


Rate Oct. 31, 1919: 

Mine A, $1 , 


SI. 35 

1.6875 
2. 0225 
2. 3625 
2.7000 


$0.35 


Mine B, $1.25 


.4375 


Mine C, $1.50 


.5225 


Mine D, $1.75 


.6125 


Mine E, $2 


.7000 


Average equivalent per cent rate 


.5245 









Any such differentials may be made uniform when mutually 
agree to. 

The mining rates and wage schedules in effect on October 31, 1919, 
in what is known as the Washington agreement, applying to the 
central competitive field and outlying districts except as hereinafter 
provided, shall be subject to the following increases and conditions: 

1. That the mining prices for mining mine-run coal, pick and 
machine, shall be advanced 30 cents per ton. 

In the block coal field of Indiana, and in other localities that are 
still on the screened coal base, the usual methods of applying the ton- 
nage rates shall continue. This also has its application to districts 
that have a joint understanding in applying wage increases to low 
coal. 



112 REPORTS OF BITUMIXOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

2. That all day labor and monthly men, except trappers and other 
boys, be advanced $1.70 per day. Trappers and boys receiving less 
than men's wages to be advanced $1 jDer day. 

3. That all yardage, dead work, and room turning be advanced 35 
per cent. Nothing shall prevent the representatives of the miners 
and operators in any district, in joint conference, from taking the 
flat equivalent of the 35 per cent and applying it to yardage, dead 
work, and room turning, if by so doing they will make for uniform- 
ity and maintain the differentials. Failing, however, to agree to such 
application, then the 35 per cent shall be applied on the existing 
rates effective October 31, 1919. 

4. The differential existing in the western Penns} 7 lvania district 
between the thick and thin veins, both pick and machine mining, 
shall be adjusted in the following manner : Commencing with April 
1, 1920, one-half of this differential shall be eliminated, and on April 
1. 1921, the remaining one-half shall be eliminated; and the operators 
of the thick vein district will be required to pay the basic price pro- 
vided for in the thin vein mining scale. 

5. Payment for handling soapstone directly overlying the Xo. 8 
seam of eastern Ohio and the Pittsburgh district of Pennsylvania, 
shall be subject to the increase provided herein; and that part of the 
stone up to and including the 12 inches is referred to the operators 
and miners of these two respective districts, and Ave recommend that 
two cents a ton be allowed, to be upon the ton, or it ma} T be converted 
to a yardage basis if desired. 

The principle of determining the flat rates for the payment of 
yardage and dead work as set forth in section 3 may be applied in 
these two fields in fixing and establishing pay for handling soap- 
stone. 

6. The base rate in effect for inside day labor in the central com- 
petitive field shall be established and made uniform throughout the 
central competitive field. 

7. The present daily working hours shall continue until April 1, 
1921. On and after that date employees will be required to work 
seven hours daily, six da}'S a week, when required by the operator, 
in their usual working places. This shall be exclusive of the time 
required in reaching such working places in the morning and de- 
parting from them at night. And the conditions of the Columbus 
day wage scale of 1898 are hereby reaffirmed, except as to the number 
of hours constituting a day's work. 

8. The machine differential in Indiana of 12 cents per ton to be 
adjusted in the following manner: Commencing with April 1, 
1921. it shall be 11 cents per ton, and on and after April 1, 1921, it 
shall be 10 cents per ton. Within the two-year period the total 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 113 

machine rate to the miner will be increased two cents as a result of 
the elimination of these differentials as above described. 

Four-Cent Differential, Southern Illinois. 

The differential in the southern Illinois field has been a controversy 
of long standing, and the commission is of the opinion that there is 
no justifiable reason for its continuance, and therefore decided as 
follows : 

Commencing April 1, 1920, the mining rate in southern Illinois 
will be increased two cents per ton; on April 1, 1921, it will again be 
increased two cents per ton, and by this process the four-cent differ- 
ential will be obtained. 

Northern Illinois. 

A very peculiar condition exists in the long-wall coal fields of 
northern Illinois. This matter, like many other questions familiar 
to the operators' and miners' conventions, has proved a very vexed 
problem, and the men who are employed in mining the coal in this 
field are not able to earn a corresponding wage with the men em- 
ployed in the thicker veins in the other sections of the State. 

It is also true that the rate of increase per ton, while equal to 
other fields within the State, has not yielded the miners of northern 
Illinois the same returns that have come to the miners in the thicker 
veins. It is therefore the opinion of this commission that miners 
and operators of this field, that there should be a joint commission 
of three operators and three miners appointed by the Illinois miners' 
and operators' associations, who will have full and complete author- 
ity to deal with all phases of the situation, including the adequacy 
of the increase ordered in this award and as it may affect these 
mines. 

Assumption and Decatur. 

And, in view of the fact that it is alleged that at Assumption and 
Decatur, 111., conditions similar to those in northern Illinois exist, 
the same joint commission will have power to investigate and decide 
what may be necessary to determine matters at Assumption and 
Decatur. 

Michigan. 

Conditions in the Michigan coal fields, as reflected by the briefs 
filed by the mine workers and operators, reveal the fact that there 
are several questions in dispute submitted. 

(1) The question of whether or not the extra. 10 cents per ton al- 
lowed by the United States Fuel Administration during the war 
should be continued, the miners contending for its continuation and 
the operators asking for its elimination. 



114 REPORTS Or BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

(2) The question of the number of rooms that should be given the 
loaders in the various machine mines is a very vital one, as the miners 
put it. 

The commission believes in the matter of the 10 cents a ton given 
by the United States Fuel Administration that the decision of the 
Fuel Administration should govern. 

With respect to their contention that two places should be given to 
each loader, the contention seems to be well grounded and we recom- 
mend that the loaders be given that consideration. 

Iowa. 

From an examination of the briefs and arguments that were made 
by the representatives of the operators and miners of Iowa we find 
there were but a few questions submitted, some of which have been 
composed by the general terms of this award. The commission is 
therefore of the opinion that the remaining questions can be, and are 
hereby, referred back to the operators and miners joint conference 
in Iowa for adjustment. We believe that in taking this course the 
best interests of miners and operators within Iowa will be conserved. 

Southwestern Interstate Field. 

(KANSAS, MISSOURI. ARKANSAS. OKLAHOMA. AND TEXAS.) 

By reference to the oral statements and extensive briefs filed in 
regard to matters touching the southwestern interstate districts, it 
will be seen that nearly all the subject matters submitted are purely 
local questions, and the commission believes that they should be 
ventilated in the scale conferences in the Southwest, and we advise 
such course. 

We might say further that the situation in the Thurber field of 
Texas, like that in the Osage field of Kansas, is most extraordinary, 
and the conditions prevailing at these places are exceptional ; and if 
these mines are to continue operating it appears to the commission 
that they can only operate when the markets are most favorable, 
as the physical conditions surrounding the mines in these fields are 
such that we believe the only way prices and conditions in these 
localities can be determined is by referring these matters back to 
the scale conference of the Southwest with that end in view. We 
recommend such course. 

Wyoming. Montana, and Colorado. 

An examination of the briefs filed by the operators and miners of 
these districts show no special or peculiar grievances not common 
to the industry as a whole. They do not appear to be complicated, 
and we would therefore advise that they be referred to the joint con- 
ferences of operators and miners in their respective districts for the 
purpose of having them mutually adjusted. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 115 

Washington. 

The situation in the State of Washington, as presented by briefs 
and oral statements of the operators and miners, reveals one of the 
most unusual and complex problems submitted to this commission 
for its determination. The operators show by their briefs that in 
many of the commercial mines of the State, which produce the ma- 
jority of the State's tonnage and sales realization, the price is be- 
low the production cost. They also show that foreign coal and fuel 
oil enter in a large degree into the future life of the coal industry 
in that State. 

The miners in rebuttal attack the figures in the briefs of the 
operators, declaring that depreciation, depletion, and miscellaneous 
items of production cost are excessive and unwarranted. 

In view of the vital issues involved and the lack of time and 
funds for this commission to make a survey and enable them to deal 
adequately with the problem, we recommend the following: 

That the representatives of the miners and operators of the State 
of Washington, at the earliest possible moment, select one operator 
and one practical miner, the two selected to agree upon a disinter- 
ested mining engineer as the third member, and, failing to agree on 
such a person, the Secretary of Labor shall make the appointment. 
This local commission shall make a survey of all the mines in the 
State to develop the facts underlying the whole problem as it applies 
to this industry in the State of Washington and at the earliest pos- 
sible moment submit its report to the joint conference of operators 
and miners of that State. 

Western Kentucky, District No. 23. 

An examination of the briefs filed with the commission from this 
district will show that the burden of complaint of the miners is that 
they have contended for many years that their rates of pay for cer- 
tain classes of labor bear too great a differential against the central 
competitive field and other districts. They cite that in the past the 
coal operators of western Kentucky claimed that when conditions 
would improve in what is known as the Hopkins County field the 
matters complained of would receive their most earnest considera- 
tion. 

It is true that the operators claim they can not now change these 
long-established differentials because of market and freight condi- 
tions. Like many other cases submitted to the commission, and in 
order that no undue advantage will be taken of either operator or 
miner within these various districts, we find it necessary, in weigh- 
ing the subject matters contained in these briefs, and where the con- 
ditions are extraordinary, to refer them to a joint commission or 
joint conference. 



IX 



11-6 REPORTS OP BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

It is therefore ordered that these matters be referred back to the 
joint conference of operators and miners of western Kentucky, and 
if they fail to agree the mines must continue at work and the un- 
settled matters disposed of by the United States Bituminous Coal 
Commission. It is expected in all these references that the operators 
and miners will reduce to a minimum all matters that are likely to 
be controversial and that may lead to unstabilizing the coal industry. 

Alabama, Tennessee, Eastern Kentucky, and Maryland. 

The representatives of the miners from these States filed briefs 
citing the wages and conditions of employment, but as the records 
show, none of the operators from these districts appeared before 
the commission, merely filing letters with the commission to the 
effect that they have no joint relations with the mine workers in their 
districts. 

In each of these districts during the war certain wage increases 
were adopted and put into effect by the United States Fuel Adminis- 
tration, and tribunals were set up for the adjustment of the usual 
complaints common to mining. These tribunals included a perma- 
nent umpire in each district, and in order that justice may be done 
to all and the mine workers be given the right to enjoy the corre- 
sponding advantage that this award may reflect as given to mine 
workers elsewhere, the commission would recommend that the 
operators arrange to meet with representatives of the miners in 
these districts and to put into effect the award of this commission, 
and to adjust the differences that may prevail in the industry in 
their respective localities, to the end that industrial peace and tran- 
quillity may prevail. 

"West Virginia. 

The miners and operators having agreed in joint conference to the 
establishment of a joint commission (this Avas done two years or 
more ago), for the purpose of making investigation within the 
Kanawha field, with the object of trying to correct inequalities and 
bring about a more uniform condition locally, have not had oppor- 
tunity to present their report to their joint conference because of 
the Federal Government exercising control over the coal industry. 
We feel, however, that we should recommend that they compose 
their internal matters in harmony with the report of the joint com- 
mission herein referred to, and we so decide. 

Central Pennsylvania. 

Evidence submitted and facts developed by the miners and opera- 
tors of this field in the presentation of their case clearly defines the 
issues involved, and the commission sets forth the following award 
in relation thereto : 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 117 

The general award of the commission covering basic principles 
determines and deals with some of the matters of vital import to 
this field. In deciding upon local and internal questions affecting 
the district the commission recognizes inequalities that should be 
rectified in some degree. Therefore all additions to the base pay 
or otherwise by bonus during the war period shall be utilized in 
payment for dead work, or low coal standard, or for any of the com- 
plaints set forth in the miners' demands. 

The variation of conditions throughout the district is of such 
character that in referring back to the next joint conference in this 
district, the commission hopes by this award and by cooperation and 
mutual agreement the bonus may be applied to remedy some of the 
evils complained of in the district. 

COMPLAINTS THAT ARE GENERAL IN CHARACTER. 



Car Pushing. 

This practice was complained of very bitterly in many of the briefs 
filed by the miners from nearly all sections of the bituminous coal 
fields. As shown by the briefs, the evils of this system are pro- 
nounced and impose a heavy burden upon the mine workers. With 
the growth of modern mining and the use of machinery the equip- 
ment has enlarged to a great degree, and, in our judgment, demands 
that a change take place in the method of handling mine cars. 

We recognize very forcibly that steps must be taken to change 
this system, which should not be revolutionary, as it will require 
organization and in some instances careful consideration where physi- 
cal conditions of the veins are such that the financial outlay necessary 
to make roadway heights would possibly render it prohibitive. 

In order that the evil may be eliminated, we respectfully refer 
this important matter back to the various district joint conferences 
to be worked out in accordance with a mutual understanding, taking 
into consideration the conditions that obtain in each of the districts 
from which these complaints emanate. 

II. 

Powder Question. 

The price of blasting powder furnished the miners shall not ex- 
ceed the price in effect on October 31, 1919. This commission is of 
the opinion that there should be no attempt on the part of the 
employer to profit by the handling of powder sold to his employee. 
and we recommend that the policy in the future shall be that powder 
be furnished to the miners at cost plus transportation and insurance. 
Where detonating powders are used, the detonators shall be fur- 
nished by the companies free of charge. 

171797°— 20 9 



118 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

III. 

Blacksmlthing. 

We are of the opinion that the price charged the miners for smith- 
ing is excessive, and recommend that the charge be made on the 
basis of cost. 

IV. 

Price of House Coal to the Employees at the Mines. 
The price in effect on October 31, 1919, for house coal furnished 
to the miners at the mines shall be increased by adding the labor 
cost only. 

V. 

Introduction of Labor-Saving Devices and Machinery. 

The commission finds that the United Mine Workers are in com- 
plete harmony with the introduction and use of machinery and 
other mechanical devices that tend to increase production and effi- 
ciency in the mining industry. An examination of the brief filed 
by the mine workers on this subject is ample proof of their position. 

Government statistics bearing on the subject of machine-mined 
coal, which is now 57 per cent of the total production, sustains the 
miners' contention that they have encouraged the introduction of 
machinery and mechanical devices that tend to intensify production. 

We find only a few isolated cases where it might appear that there 
was some opposition to the introduction of machinery, and we would 
recommend that wherever such instances are recorded that the good 
offices of the miners' international organization be exercised to main- 
tain the principle that they have so ably set up, and some equitable 
rule be jointly worked out that will conserve this principle. 

VI. 

Contract Observance. 

Much was said by the coal operators in the hearings of the failure 
of the miners to observe contracts once they wei?e entered into. The 
operators pleaded that the miners' international organization assume 
more responsibility for contract fulfillment. 

We would suggest, owing to the fact that this question involves 
policies and long-standing customs, that it be taken up in the cen- 
tral competitive field joint conference, and whatever rule will be 
worked out in this conference shall become the rule for a similar 
policy in the outlying districts. 

We can see no logical reason why a greater responsibility should 
not be exercised by the miners' international organization over the 
subordinate branches. We believe, however, that the miners' inter- 
national organization should not be made the place where every 
petty grievance can be referred, but have in mind the larger principle 
involved in this question. 



REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 119 

VII. 

Discounting Employees' Wages. 

It was cited by the miners during the hearings that a very serious 
evil exists in the industry, through the practice of the coal operators 
advancing money to employees during the interim of pay days and 
exacting discounts. This policy, in the opinion of the commission, 
is absolutely wrong, and we find no justification for its existence. 

The commission decides that the coal operator shall not accept ad- 
vance orders on the employees' wages, and, in the event the operator 
advances money on account, it shall be without order or discount. 

VIII. 
Paying Miners by the Car. 
From an examination of the briefs filed with the commission, we 
find the practice of paying miners by the car measurement instead 
of the ton still exists. The evils of this system are outstanding and 
it is replete with abuses; it can not be defended on any honest or 
legitimate grounds. 

The commission therefore decides that the practice of paying by 
car measurement be abolished, that the coal be weighed, and that 
2,000 pounds constitute a ton, the basis upon which all miners should 
be paid. 

IX. 

Maintaining Open Mining Camps. 

If the mine worker and his family are to enjoy the emoluments of 
advancing civilization, there must come an organic change in his en- 
vironment. While there has been marked progress made in the better 
mining centers of the country toward ameliorating the conditions of 
the miner and his family, yet, on the other hand, in the isolated 
mining camps where large groups of miners are employed this has 
not been done. We wish to commend those mining companies that have 
taken into consideration the social conditions and the advantages that 
have accrued by reason of establishing better homes and enabling the 
mine worker to acquire a home. 

There still exist some- grave evils in that direction and some coal 
companies still maintain what is known as the " closed camp," where 
they dominate the entire situation, and at the slightest opposition of 
the miners to conditions that are offered the operator is in a position 
to evict them from their homes and impose upon them almost any 
condition he sees fit. 

If we expect cooperation and helpfulness to exist between the em- 
ployer and the employee, these evil conditions must give way to a 
more enlightened and humane attitude on the part of the employers. 
We therefore earnestly recommend, that wherever miners and opera- 
tors meet in joint conference they will use their influence for the pur- 



120 REPORTS OF BITUMINOUS COAL COMMISSION. 

pose of bringing about substantial improvements that will eliminate 
these evils, and thus remove one of the great causes of unrest. 

X. 

Application of 14 Per Cent Wage Increases. 

We find great confusion prevailing throughout the various coal- 
producing districts, outside of the central competitive field, because 
of the manner and way in which the 14 per cent increase has been 
applied. 

The commission made known to the operators and miners through 
the hearings that when making its final award we would determine 
how the 14 per cent would be applied. We find that it has always 
been customary to follow the rule of the central competitive field, 
which was considered somewhat as the key to the whole situation 
and has served as a guide to the entire mining industry of the country. 

The 14 per cent increase applied at the basing- points in the cen- 
tral competitive field amounts to 11 cents per ton and was added to 
the pick and machine mining rates, thus maintaining the differen- 
tials. The 14 per cent increase was added to the yardage, dead work 
and room turning, day wage, and monthly men. 

Percentage increases always disturb established differentials. It 
is therefore our decision that 11 cents per ton be added to the pick 
and machine mining rates in effect October 31, 1919, and that yard- 
age, dead work, and the day wage and monthly men be advanced 14 
per cent in all bituminous districts ; that it be made retroactive from 
the date of resumption of mining and continue until March 31, 1920, 
as the award of the commission will become effective April 1, 1920, 
and will substitute and absorb the 14 per cent wage increase. 

XI. 

Joint Wage Negotiations. 

The commission's award becomes the base upon which all wage 
agreements shall be predicated. The specific awards set forth shall 
not be subject to negotiations, but shall apply automatically in such 
agreements or schedules of wages. 

Latitude to unify, or mutual arrangements that may be entered 
into, are hereby authorized and suggested, providing the specific 
awards and principles are adhered to. 

XII. 

Terms and Tenure of Contract. 

The terms and provisions of this award shall become effective 
April 1, 1920, and continue in effect until March 31, 1922. 

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